The Quickie: Missouri Lawmakers Are Fighting Against Direct Democracy 

Welcome to “The Quickie” — Planned Parenthood Action Fund’s daily tipsheet on the top health care & reproductive rights stories of the day. You can read “The Quickie'' online here.

In today’s Quickie: Missouri lawmakers attempt to make it harder to pass ballot initiatives, Ohio bans gender-affirming care for minors, and Planned Parenthood Federation of America and Action Fund release 2023 review of the Biden administration’s reproductive health record.

MISSOURI LAWMAKERS ARE FIGHTING AGAINST DIRECT DEMOCRACY: A package of bills to make Missouri ballot initiatives more difficult to pass had their first hearing of the legislative session yesterday. As reported in News from the States, the measures were met with “widespread opposition” from a range of interests, from the Missouri Realtors to the Missouri Voter Protection Coalition. 

Among the bills are measures to drastically raise the threshold for qualifying a ballot initiative; to raise the threshold for passing the initiative from 51% to a majority of votes statewide and in a majority of the state’s congressional districts, and there’s even a measure to invalidate qualification signatures if the ballot language changes.

As News from the States noted, “[h]anging over the proceedings, though hardly discussed on Tuesday, were a pair of initiative petition campaigns seeking to put an amendment on the statewide ballot rolling back Missouri near-total ban on abortion.” Clearly, conservative lawmakers aren’t letting go of their fight against direct democracy in 2024. The reason is obvious: progressive reforms that they’ve blocked for years have broad support among voters, and they don’t want to lose. 

Read more from News from the States. 
 

OHIO BECOMES LATEST STATE TO BAN GENDER-AFFIRMING CARE FOR MINORS: Yesterday, with a vote of 23-9, the Ohio Senate voted to override Gov. DeWine’s veto of HB68, legislation banning gender-affirming care for minors and barring transgender girls and women from playing on girls’ and women’s sports teams. The law takes effect in 90 days and makes Ohio the 23rd state to pass a youth gender-affirming care ban. The efforts to restrict transgender health care have not slowed down. So far this state legislative session, over 55 bills attacking health care for the transgender community have been filed.

More from the Washington Post and the Ohio Capital Journal.
 

NEW ANALYSIS FROM PLANNED PARENTHOOD FEDERATION OF AMERICA AND  ACTION FUND ON BIDEN-HARRIS ADMINISTRATION’S RECORD TO PROTECT REPRODUCTIVE FREEDOM: Yesterday, Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA) and Planned Parenthood Action Fund (Action Fund) released their 2023 review of the Biden-Harris administration’s work to protect and expand access to sexual and reproductive health care. The report reviews the policy actions from the administration in accordance with the three part strategy they laid out in the aftermath of the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade to implement meaningful policy interventions to protect and improve access, leverage the White House bully pulpit and convening power to address the crisis, and focus on patients’ needs and health equity.

“From the very start, the Biden-Harris administration set out to protect and expand access to sexual and reproductive health care and has been steadfast ever since,” said Alexis McGill Johnson, president and CEO, Planned Parenthood Action Fund, in a press release on the report put out by the Action Fund. “Amid the ever-changing landscape of abortion access since the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, the administration has consistently served as a much-needed backstop against dangerous efforts to prevent people from getting the care they need. Planned Parenthood Action Fund appreciates the Biden-Harris administration’s continued leadership and partnership in rebuilding abortion rights and fortifying access to the full range of sexual and reproductive health care.”

Read the full report here.