Most voters are passionate. Whether for a specific candidate, issue or tax, motivations for voting span the gamut.
While these races and referendums draw different levels of passion, one issue should be on the ballot soon, and it’s as passionate an issue as they come — abortion rights.
The Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade in June has had mixed reactions, and a lot of them. A group of protestors were on the Barry County Courthouse square last week, hoisting signs saying they supported women and the right to abortion.
I don’t know where they were from, but I know we don’t get protests often in Barry County, and I know the position of these protestors is not the prevalent position among Barry County residents.
According to the Pew Research Center, Missouri is nearly evenly split on the issue. In a sample size of 642 Missourians, 50 percent say it should be illegal in all or most cases, 45 percent believe it should be legal in all or most cases, and the remaining 5 percent don’t know.
The motivation behind each view is largely based on religion. A total of 63 percent of Evangelical protestants say it should be illegal, 29 percent say legal and 8 percent don’t know.
Mainline protestants are 39 percent against it, 59 percent for and 2 percent don’t know. Among the unaffiliated, 28 percent are against, 66 percent for and 6 percent don’t know.
Would that translate the same at the polls? I’m not so sure. A poll by the Remington Research Group in May surveyed 1,066 likely voters in the 2022 general election.
Results showed Missourians believe states should have control over abortion laws, not the federal government, and it showed strong bipartisan support for keeping it legal.
According to that poll, 48 percent support overturning of Roe, with 40 percent not wanting it overturned and 12 percent unsure.
When it comes to Missouri’s trigger law, 44 percent thought it’s too restrictive, 30 percent said it’s about right, 17 percent said it didn’t go far enough and 9 percent were unsure.
Another poll by Impact Research, prior to any knowledge of Roe being overturned, had staggering results.
It surveyed 500 likely voters, 51 percent of whom voted for Donald Trump in the November 2020 election.
That data showed 75 percent of Missouri voters want abortion to remain legal, and 54 percent opposed a bill similar to Texas’ abortion ban passed in September 2021.
How accurate are these polls? Let’s put an abortion referendum, or two, on the ballot and see.
The best proposal I have seen thus far came recently via the Kansas City Star.
It said state lawmakers (or voters, through the petition process) should offer two abortion amendments: one allowing the prohibition of all abortions in Missouri and the other establishing abortion access as a fundamental right.
The passing of Medicaid expansion, medical marijuana and labor rights at the ballot box in recent years more likely means it would have to be a petition.
Our representatives at the state level over the past decade have been 100 percent pro-life, with former State Sen. David Sater, R-Cassville, crafting the bill that put a 72-hour waiting period on abortions in the state.
Would an extremely right-leaning government body willfully put abortion to a vote of the people? I believe they should.
Kansans are getting it. Our neighbors will be the first to do so in the August primary with the “Value Them Both Act,” which would remove the right to abortion from the state’s constitution.
A yes vote means the state can ban it, and a no vote means the state will protect it as if Roe was never overturned.
In 2020, Donald Trump won Missouri with 56.8 percent to Joe Biden’s 41.4.
The same voters should have a say in this topic, and soon.
State’s rights are part of the bedrock of our democracy.
Let’s exercise them.
Kyle Troutman has served as the editor of the Cassville Democrat since 2014. In 2017, he was named William E. James/ Missouri Outstanding Young Journalist for daily newspapers. He may be reached at 417-847-2610 or ktroutman@cherryroad.com.
