I gathered signatures to put abortion on the ballot in 2024.

Missourians needed 180,000 signatures to put abortion rights on the ballot — we gathered 380,000 signatures. In November of 2024, Missouri was the first state to overturn a complete abortion ban. We voted to protect bodily autonomy with a Constitutional right to an abortion.

We did it, but now Missouri Republicans are trying to overturn our will by putting the abortion question back on the ballot.

Americans were told that the Supreme Court overturned Roe to send the question of bodily autonomy “back to the states.”

It was a lie.

Missouri was the first state in the nation to completely ban abortion after Roe fell. Our AG at the time, Eric Schmitt, couldn’t get in front of cameras quick enough to sign away the rights and the bodies of Missouri women and girls. The abortion ban had no exceptions for rape or incest — it claimed to have an exemption for “the life of the mother,” but you and I know that exemption doesn’t work.

Now, a Missouri Republican known for his ignorance about women’s bodies and his penchant for forcing women and girls to deliver pregnancies due to rape, is on the case. His name is Brian Seitz (R-Branson) and he is one of the worst sadists in the state — an absolute misogynist. Brian seems to enjoy the pain and suffering he can impose on women.

In 2022, Rep Brian Seitz argued to ban abortion for women suffering an ectopic pregnancy — he also wanted to criminally charge doctors who treated ectopic pregnancies.

From Vanity Fair:

“Unfortunately for the women of Missouri, Seitz apparently has no idea how modern medicine works. Seitz insisted that doctors don’t have a way of determining if a pregnancy is ectopic, and are just performing abortions for the hell of it. ‘They don’t have the hospital machinery to tell if this is an ectopic pregnancy,’ Seitz falsely claimed. ‘They might just think it’s a normal pregnancy, and they want to abort that child. I would like to see that sort of unlawful activity stopped.’”

Representative Seitz is not a doctor. He is a Southern Baptist pastor.

Seitz is a Missouri Republican. The Missouri GOP is a collective group of cruel members elected each session to bring harm to their own constituents. They claim to be Christians, but function as the mafia — just as heartless and merciless.

The good “Christians” in Jefferson City force children to bear children. They are the Republicans who will vote down health insurance for pregnant women and vote down free lunches in schools and the vote for children to open carry rifles in the streets. Those Republican Christians like to bloviate on “morals” and “values.”

The new abortion ban seeks to:

…outlaw abortion with exceptions for medical emergencies and fetal anomalies. It would also legalize abortions up to 12 weeks gestation for survivors of rape and incest, but only if first reported to police, a requirement that remains highly-criticized by survivors and their advocates.

Brian Seitz admitted that he does not agree with exceptions for rape and incest and only included the language in the bill because “he believes that adding the allowance up until the end of the first trimester would be more favorable for voters.”

He said his “morals” align with forcing rape victims to give birth. Yes, that’s what he said.

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Republican lawmakers in Missouri have already written their abortion ban to overturn the will of voters. Just like they did with Clean Missouri, our anti-gerrymandering initiative that was overturned after it had won approval in the state.

Although Missouri citizens gather thousands of signatures to put initiatives on the ballot, lawmakers do not have to collect even one signature to oppose a constitutional amendment and put it back in front of voters. But, here’s the absolute dirty truth: lawmakers trick voters by using inflammatory rhetoric or by using “ballot candy.”

On overturning Clean Missouri:

“The politicians and the lobbyists who put (Dirty Missouri) together know that it won’t stand on its own, their policy. And so they’ve got some tricks. Like they’re trying to fool voters into passing this thing,” said Sean Nicholson, Clean Missouri’s campaign director. “When voters go to vote, the first two bullets they’ll see are intended to make it look like this is a reform package.

The first bullet point on the deceptive ballot to overturn Clean Missouri limited political gifts to $5. Sounds good, right?

The second bullet reduced campaign contributions from $2500 to $2400. Again, this sounds good — it seems on its face to be about campaign reform.

If the voter managed to get down to the third bullet, that’s where they would learn that this was an amendment to allow gerrymandering. It wasn’t about campaign reform. It was about allowing the GOP to undercount some communities and leverage more power in rural districts.

Dirty Missouri won.

Voters were tricked. Duped. Conned. Hoodwinked.

I have lived under this sort of tyranny for two decades. I am accustomed to fighting for every right in this state. I can’t stop now. I won’t.

We know the GOP will place ballot candy on the next abortion ban they put on our ballots. We have to be prepared to educate our neighbors now. No matter if the Republicans are successful this session, restricting women from having access to abortion care and the right to our own bodies will not end under a GOP supermajority.

They won’t stop. They don’t honor our will and never have.

From puppy mills to open carry to Medicaid to a higher minimum wage and guaranteed sick time, they overturn the will of the people at a shocking rate and I am not sure if some voters understand. If you vote for a progressive ballot initiative, and then vote for a Republican, you just gave the Republicans the power to overturn your will.

What can we do?

Make their jobs as difficult as possible. Stand in the way of the GOP. Talk back. Show up. Testify. March.

And never, ever vote for a Missouri Republican.

Poke the bear.

~Jess