Top MO Republican said he’d respect voters’ will. Now he’s open to changing abortion law (2024)

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The presumptive next Missouri House speaker on Wednesday opened the door for Republican lawmakers to potentially overhaul a ballot measure that enshrined abortion rights in the state constitution, despite recent comments he made about respecting the will of voters.

House Majority Leader Jonathan Patterson, a Lee’s Summit Republican, told reporters on Wednesday that one focus of Republicans this upcoming legislative session will be making changes to Amendment 3, which effectively overturned the state’s near-total abortion ban.

“There’s no amendment that’s passed that can’t be changed or improved upon,” said Patterson, who last year was tapped by his colleagues to become the next House speaker. “I think that’s what our members are doing to go out and make Missouri the most pro-life state it can be.”

Patterson made the comments after a closed–door winter caucus meeting of House Republicans in Jefferson City. His acknowledgment signals that Republican leadership is on board with lawmakers pursuing changes to the amendment, which 51.74% of voters approved earlier this month.

The Lee’s Summit Republican’s comments also appear to mark a departure from comments he made about the amendment ahead of the election, when he argued that “we have to respect the wishes of the people.”

“What I’ve told people is that we should respect the will of the people and we will,” Patterson said at a candidate forum hosted by the Lee’s Summit Chamber of Commerce ahead of the election. “It’ll be the law of the land and we have to go forward as the people decide.”

When asked on Wednesday whether he was walking back those comments, Patterson said “absolutely not.”

“We respect the will of the voters,” he said. “That doesn’t mean that things can’t be improved or changed. There are a number of things in there that members want to address, and they’ll go forth right now and work on bills to address those things.”

Patterson made the comments as another Republican has mounted a long-shot challenge to his bid for the speakership, based in part on Patterson’s comments about respecting the wishes of voters on Amendment 3. Rep. Justin Sparks, a Wildwood Republican, has called on Republicans to name him as speaker when they return to session in January.

“I simply lost confidence in…the speaker-elect,” Sparks said on Wednesday. “I had just come to the decision that I couldn’t vote for him…I wanted to give an alternative to anybody else that felt the same way.”

Emily Wales, the president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Great Plains Votes, in a statement on Wednesday criticized Missouri lawmakers for targeting ballot measures that voters have approved.

“The Missouri legislature has a history of ‘improving’ on citizen initiatives by undermining or refusing to implement them, and it didn’t take long for Rep. Patterson to reverse course on his initial statement to respect the will of Missourians,” Wales said. “While not usually the practice of these extreme legislators to listen and learn from the people, I’d recommend they try.”

In response to Patterson’s comments, incoming House Minority Leader Ashley Aune, a Kansas City Democrat, said in a statement that Missourians “just voted to fully protect reproductive rights.”

“Full stop. End of conversation,” she said.

Fights over abortion rights are likely to consume the Missouri Capitol during the next legislative session as GOP lawmakers remain steadfast in their push to undo Amendment 3.

Any future changes to the amendment itself would have to be approved by voters through a separate constitutional amendment on a future ballot.

The amendment legalizes abortion up to fetal viability, effectively overturning the state’s near-total ban on the procedure. Abortion providers have filed a lawsuit seeking to remove restrictions on abortion in the hope of restoring access as early as next month.

What the Republican response will look like still remains unclear ahead of the legislative session, however Patterson signaled a willingness to make changes to its definition of fetal viability.

“Those discussions are starting,” he said. “I think there are a number of things that can be addressed. The fetal viability, the definition, for one. But again, we’re just starting the process. Our membership is very concerned about Amendment 3.”

The measure defines fetal viability as the point in pregnancy when there’s a significant chance a fetus can survive outside the womb without extraordinary medical measures.