Missouri took away women’s abortion rights. Will you restore them with Amendment 3? | Opinion

Whether you are pro-life or pro-choice, the petition-driven Amendment 3 on the Nov. 5 ballot in Missouri is about much more than enshrining a woman’s right to have an abortion.

Fundamentally, it is a fight about whether a girl or woman has the same inalienable rights as stated in the Declaration of Independence and protected by the Constitution as a man.

Our government is supposed to protect these rights for all, not take them away from some.

The Founding Fathers were clear about that when they drafted the Declaration and Constitution. But women have had to fight for those rights before the ink dried on those documents and throughout the history of this country.

Women had to the fight to gain the right to vote, to have access to an equal opportunity to get an education, a good job, buy a house, get a credit card — those things that are a part of the pursuit of “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”

Now women have to fight to control our own bodies, our own reproductive decisions, what is in the best interest of our health, an unborn child, and that of our families.

On a broader level, the petition is about how we as a society, as Missourians, view the sanctity of life — all human life.

There are those who offer religious beliefs to support their position about abortion. They believe it is their duty to protect the unborn at all costs — irrespective of the viability of the fetus, the health risks to the mother or the conditions under which the unborn was conceived or must survive.

On what religious basis is it determined that one life is more important than the other?

How is the life of the unborn deemed more important than the mother, or children already here?

What about Missouri children who are not aborted but live in poverty, are homeless, hungry and unable to get needed health care and dental services?

What about those children who have been impaired from drinking lead-contaminated water, entering schools that don’t have adequate resources to teach healthy kids let alone those with special needs?

For those who use religion and the sanctity of life to support their position about passing and keeping punitive anti-Constitutional abortion laws in place, it begs the question: How deep is your love for life?

Do you really care about life, especially the quality of life after the unborn gets here?

The amendment also speaks to the fact that we are governed by and live under a participatory democracy.

The petition initiative is the purest form and demonstration that the people are participating directly in how policy decisions are made, and how laws are determined. After gathering the required signatures, and winning court fights, 10 states will have constitutional amendments on the ballot in November to protect or expand abortion rights.

It is the safeguard when representative democracy falls short, when those we elect failed to work and adopt legislation in our best interests.

The majority of Americans and Missourians believe that women should be able to make a personal decision, along with her decision or her god about whether she is willing or able to bring a pregnancy to full term, and whether she is able to provide a quality of life for the unborn she carries.

Why should such a decision rest with any governmental entity, federal or state?

Missouri was the first of 16 state to ban abortions after the Supreme Court overturned the Constitutional right of women to access that option if needed. Should Amendment 3 pass, Missouri, the Show-Me State, would be the first state to overturn an abortion ban through a citizen-led campaign.

Maybe, it will lead the way and set an example for the other states with abortion bans.

As you go to the polls to cast your vote, you owe it to yourself, and every girl and woman in your life to be clear about why you are casting your vote, and more importantly the consequences of casting that vote — whether you cast it as a pro-life or or pro-choice believer.

What will this defining petition initiative mean to you, girls, and women all across Missouri, and other states?

Janice Ellis has lived and worked in Missouri for more than three decades, analyzing educational, political, social and economic issues across race, ethnicity, age and socioeconomic status.