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Missourians voted Tuesday night to protect abortion rights, raise the minimum wage and guarantee paid sick leave for workers. They also voted by wide margins to send Republicans to Jefferson City who vehemently oppose those proposals and may try to roll them back. It’s become a familiar pattern in Missouri — progressive ballot measures like Medicaid expansion and marijuana legalization finding success in a state where Republicans have dominated for more than a decade. Exactly why this seems to play out cycle after cycle is a matter of debate.  (Hancock, 11/7)

Planned Parenthood affiliates that operate in Missouri filed in a state court Wednesday seeking to invalidate the state’s abortion ban and several laws that regulate the care. The Missouri amendment, which is to take effect Dec. 5, does not specifically override any state laws. Instead, the measure left it to advocates to ask courts to knock down bans that they believe would now be unconstitutional. Planned Parenthood leaders said Wednesday on a Zoom call with reporters that they want to start offering abortions at clinics in Columbia, Kansas City and St. Louis if they get the judicial ruling they’re requesting — starting with blocking enforcement of laws on the book. (Fernando and Mulvihill, 11/6)

Amendment 3, the Right to Reproductive Freedom Initiative, legalizes abortion and reverses Missouri’s strict abortion ban that went into effect after Roe v. Wade was overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court. Data showed nine of the state's 114 counties and the City of St. Louis voted in favor of the amendment, while 105 counties voted against it. (Clancy and Somers, 11/6)