A new ballot measure is being considered in Missouri to protect in-vitro fertilization (IVF), but the group behind it isn’t just seeking to ensure life can be created by ethically questionable assisted reproductive technology — they support ending it, too.
The Kansas City Star reported that Missourians for Constitutional Freedom have proposed a constitutional amendment to protect “reproductive freedom.” The amendment would protect not only IVF within the state of Missouri, but abortion as well.
In the petition, the group calls for the government to protect a person’s “fundamental right to reproductive freedom,” which the petition includes as prenatal and postpartum care, but also birth control and abortion. It is assumed that IVF would be included in the measure as well.
The effort to make abortion a constitutional right has been ongoing since last year, though there have been legal battles over the wording. Cole County Judge Jon Beteem struck down much of the language, removing phrases like “unborn child,” “partial-birth abortion,” and “end the life.” The group has since responded to the Alabama IVF situation, arguing that the influence of “extremist politicians in Alabama is exactly what we’re fighting to end here in Missouri.”
Alabama’s Supreme Court ruled in February in favor of several couples who sued a fertility clinic after their embryos were destroyed. In LePage v. Mobile Infirmary Clinic, Inc, the Supreme Court found that embryos created via IVF are to be treated as human children under the state’s wrongful death statute, which quickly sent the nation into an uproar among those concerned that IVF would become threatened. Alabama politicians quickly responded by rushing to pass bills protecting IVF, and Missourians for Constitutional Freedom appears to have moved to exploit the situation.
“Whether it’s the cruel abortion ban already on the books in Missouri or the effort to limit access to IVF, what’s clear is that anti-abortion extremists want to take away reproductive freedom from Missourians,” Tori Schafer, a spokesperson for the group, told the Kansas City Star. “Our campaign is about ensuring Missourians are in control of their personal health care decisions, not politicians.”
While the point being made may sound reasonable, it’s worth noting that Missourians for Constitutional Freedom is an abortion industry coalition. According to NBC News, the coalition includes the ACLU of Missouri, Planned Parenthood Great Plains, Abortion Action Missouri, and other pro-abortion groups. The group must collect 172,000 signatures on the petition by May, and then Gov. Mike Parson can choose to place it either on the primary elections ballot in August, or the general election ballot in November. And Schafer said the group is confident they will win. “We see a path to victory regardless of when we’re placed on the ballot.”
