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The GOP-led House Children and Families Committee advanced the proposed constitutional amendment Monday by an 11-5 vote along party lines. The measure would ban abortions with exceptions for medical emergencies and cases of rape, incest and fetal anomalies.

The proposal — if approved by a majority of Missouri voters — would do away with the broad protection for reproductive freedom including abortions that voters approved last year.

Monday’s committee action moves the proposed constitutional amendment closer to debate and a vote before the full House. It would then move to the Senate for consideration ahead of the May 16 deadline for passing legislation.

The proposed ballot question hadn’t come up for a vote in the House committee since a hearing was held in early February. Rep. Holly Jones, R-Eureka, the committee chairwoman, said Monday she was told “it’s time to get this moving.�

If it clears both chambers, Gov. Mike Kehoe, a Republican, could call a special election on the question. Or it would appear before voters in the November 2026 midterm elections.

The new constitutional right, which won last year with 51.6% of the vote, protects the right to abortion up to fetal viability, when a fetus might survive outside a uterus.

Planned Parenthood provided abortions at its St. Louis clinic on Thursday, the first time the procedure had been performed at its Central West End facility since June 18, 2022.

Missouri banned nearly all abortions — including in cases of rape and incest — in June 2022 after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the nationwide right to abortion established in Roe v. Wade.

The current Missouri proposal under consideration doesn’t go that far, but it would still greatly curtail the procedure in the state.

The measure would give the Legislature the right to enact strict regulations on providers.

While the measure allows abortions in cases of rape or incest, the procedure must be performed no later than 12 weeks gestational age.

The most recent draft does away with a proposed requirement that women provide proof they reported rape or incest to law enforcement at least 48 hours before an abortion.

The measure would also require minors seeking abortions to notify their parent or guardian before an abortion, except in medical emergencies.

The measure says no one can perform an abortion on a woman based on a prenatal diagnosis indicating disability, except when there is a fetal anomaly.

Fetal anomaly is defined as “a structural or functional abnormality in the unborn child’s gestational development that would make life outside the womb impossible.�

Rep. Raychel Proudie, D-Ferguson, said there are fetal anomalies in which a child would live outside the womb “very, very briefly.�

She said the legislation would say “there is a possibility for a child with “ to live for a few hours outside the womb, and that wouldn’t be covered by the exception.

“That concerns me a little bit,� Proudie said.

The legislation also bars state funds for abortions except in limited circumstances such as rape, incest, medical emergency and fetal anomaly.

It prohibits fetal organ harvesting. The measure also explicitly states that a woman’s right to health care in cases of miscarriage and ectopic pregnancies “shall not be infringed.�

In addition, the proposed ballot measure would also ban the provision of hormones and puberty blockers for minors for gender transition, which Missouri law already restricts.

The measure also says lawsuits challenging state reproductive health care laws must be filed in Cole County Circuit Court. That provision follows a lawsuit filed in Jackson County late last year to overturn Missouri abortion restrictions.

The legislation is .