The fight to restore abortion rights in Missouri faces some daunting obstacles. These include a Republican-controlled Legislature that is trying to move the goalposts on ballot referendums to make it harder for citizens to overrule their draconian new abortion ban, as well as procedural stunts by top state officials who are brazenly abusing their authority regarding the referendum process.

But a potentially bigger impediment to restoring abortion rights in this state may ultimately come from within the abortion-rights movement itself. Some activists in the movement have taken a go-for-broke attitude about what a ballot referendum should say, calling for language that would prohibit any state restrictions at any point in pregnancy.

This would be a disastrous political strategy, a sure loser at the polls and a gift to those who want to continue denying women any control whatsoever over their own bodies. Cooler heads must ensure that the ballot language is moderate enough to stand a realistic chance of passage in Missouri.

Under a Missouri law that took effect minutes after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last year, abortion is entirely illegal here at any point in pregnancy, even in cases of rape or incest, with a sole, vague exception for medical emergencies. Doctors who violate the ban can face up to 15 years in prison.

Polls consistently show that Americans, even in red states, don't favor such extremist bans. A poll last year by St. Louis University and the polling firm YouGov found that even generally conservative Missourians favor abortion rights in the early stages of pregnancy. But the same polling shows overwhelming opposition to late-term abortion.

In the real world, late-term abortion that isn't medically necessary is an almost nonexistent phenomenon; more than 90% are performed in the first trimester and fewer than 1% in the third. But opponents of abortion rights have nonetheless aggressively demagogued the issue because they know that even generally pro-choice Americans tend to oppose it later in pregnancy.

And some in the Missouri abortion-rights movement seem determined to play right into their hands.

Activists are currently debating which of 11 versions of a potential abortion-rights referendum to go with once they finally get ballot access. Some versions would use the fetal-viability standard that was in place under Roe v. Wade: Abortion was a protected right until the fetus was developed enough to viably live outside the womb. After that point, states could impose restrictions.

That's the current standard in Illinois and most other blue states. It also jibes with what polling shows most Americans support.

But other versions of the proposed Missouri referendum contain open-ended language that appears to preclude any state restrictions at all.

As the Missouri Independent reported recently, the issue of which version to back has spawned heated debate within the abortion-rights movement. Some activists say they won't back anything other than an open-ended right with no allowance for state restrictions at any point in pregnancy.

For an idea of how well that will go over with average Missourians, consider the ballot language that Republican Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft has cynically proposed for the referendum:

"Do you want to amend the Missouri Constitution to ... allow for dangerous, unregulated, unrestricted abortions, from conception to live birth ...?"

As we have noted here before, that wording is a blatant violation of Ashcroft's statutory duty to provide unbiased ballot language. (The issue is currently in litigation.) But if activists press ahead with an open-ended referendum, Ashcroft and his ilk could arguably make the case for such an inflammatory description of it.

Do these activists really believe that any measure that could be summarized like that will draw any significant support at all in most of Missouri, let alone enough support to pass statewide? Why would they give Ashcroft & Co. that kind of ammunition?

Should referendum organizers blow this one, they won't just deny biological rights to Missouri women, but will undermine an important narrative that has been building around the country since last year: Every single state so far that has taken up the issue on a statewide ballot (including several red states) has come down on the side of abortion rights. Not one has voted against them.

If Missouri ends that national momentum merely because abortion-rights activists here can't resist the urge to overreach, it will be a grave disservice to women across America.

REPRINTED FROM THE ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH

Photo credit: Element5 Digital at Unsplash