JEFFERSON CITY 鈥 All four of Missouri鈥檚 Roman Catholic dioceses have made contributions to a campaign trying to defeat a possible ballot question that would ask voters to legalize abortion in Missouri.
and the have each written $5,001 checks to , according to Missouri Ethics Commission records.
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The , the public policy arm for the church in Missouri, has also given $5,001 to the Missouri Stands With Women campaign.
鈥淭he Catholic Church and all the dioceses are united in opposing this initiative petition. They don鈥檛 want to see it on the ballot. And if it gets on the ballot, they want it to be defeated,鈥 Sam Lee, president of Missouri Stands with Women and a Catholic deacon, said Friday.
The initial show of support for the anti-abortion effort stands in contrast to the more than $3 million from thousands of donations the abortion legalization campaign, , says it raised since launching last month.
Lee said the campaign is actively fundraising. Only donations greater than $5,000 need to be reported to the state within 48 hours.
Right now, the Missouri Stands with Women campaign is focused on blocking the pro-abortion rights campaign from collecting enough signatures to make the ballot later this year.
If the campaign turns in enough signatures by May 5, the question would appear before voters later this year.
鈥淲e want people to decline to sign,鈥 Lee said. 鈥淔rankly, they don鈥檛 get the signatures by May 5, then it鈥檚 not gonna be on the ballot.鈥
Lee said, 鈥渁bortion politics should not be injected into our constitution in this way.鈥
Lee, longtime lobbyist for Campaign Life Missouri, was a main proponent of the near-total abortion ban legislators approved, and Gov. Mike Parson signed, in 2019.
The law included a 鈥渢rigger鈥 provision that would outlaw all abortions, except in medical emergencies, if the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision establishing a constitutional right to an abortion.
When the conservative majority overturned Roe in June 2022, Missouri鈥檚 trigger law took effect. In the wake of that decision, a state-by-state fight has been playing out over abortion rights.
Abortion-rights proponents have been encouraged by the results of abortion-related ballot questions in conservative states such as Kansas, Kentucky and Ohio.
Missouri abortion rights supporters in January formally launched a signature-gathering campaign to overturn the state鈥檚 abortion ban.
The proposed constitutional amendment, pushed by Missourians for Constitutional Freedom, would create the right to an abortion until after the point of 鈥渇etal viability,鈥 which would be determined by the treating health professional.
Missourians for Constitutional Freedom had been competing with the Missouri Women and Family Research Fund, which had sought a 鈥渕oderate鈥 alternative that would鈥檝e legalized abortion in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy and in cases of rape and incest.
But that campaign announced this week it was folding and would support 鈥渁ny effort鈥 to overturn Missouri鈥檚 abortion law.
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