"Abortion Viability Disputes Complicate Ballot Measure Efforts"

Reproductive rights activists in Missouri are divided over including a provision allowing the state to regulate abortions after viability in a proposed ballot measure to roll back strict abortion bans. The debate over viability clauses has resurfaced long-standing ruptures among reproductive rights advocates in Republican-leaning or closely divided states, with some worrying that failing to include limits related to viability will sink the measures. The conflict has complicated efforts to push ahead with a ballot measure seeking to reinstate the right to abortion in Missouri, where dueling strategies have emerged. The debate over viability clauses reflects a broader national divide among reproductive rights advocates, with some arguing that viability creates an arbitrary dividing line and stigmatizes abortions later in pregnancy, while others see it as necessary to persuade voters in conservative states.