Missouri voters will decide in November whether to guarantee a right to abortion with a constitutional amendment that would reverse the state's near-total ban on the procedure.
The secretary of state's office certified Tuesday that an initiative petition received more than enough signatures from registered voters to qualify for the general election. It will need approval from a majority of voters to become enshrined in the state constitution.
Missouri will join at least a half-dozen states voting on abortion rights during the presidential election. Arizona's secretary of state certified an abortion-rights measure for the ballot on Monday. Measures also will go before voters in Colorado, Florida, Maryland, Nevada and South Dakota. While not explicitly addressing abortion rights, a New York ballot measure would bar discrimination based on "pregnancy outcomes" and "reproductive healthcare," among other things.
Initiative supporters had expressed confidence the measure will make the ballot after submitting more than double the necessary number of signatures.
Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft said there also were sufficient signatures to hold November elections on initiatives raising the state's minimum wage to $15 an hour and legalizing sports betting.
