Missouri residents and pro-choice advocates react to a speaker during Missourians for Constitutionals Freedom kick-off petition drive, Tuesday, Feb. 6, 2024 in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo/Ed Zurga, File)

A month after Missouri voters enshrined abortion rights into state law, Republican lawmakers have introduced several bills to restrict the procedure again.

Despite most voters (1,537,765, or 51.6% of the vote) approving the constitutional amendment on Election Day, the Republican-dominated state legislature in Missouri has begun work to restrict abortion access. House Joint Resolution 9 would establish another constitutional amendment asking voters to define life beginning at conception. If passed, this amendment would effectively classify abortion as unlawful murder.

A separate proposal called Senate Joint Resolution 25 would attempt to couple to abortion issue with gender-affirming care for minors, which is already illegal in Missouri. SJR 5 would require rape survivors to file police reports before attempting to obtain an abortion.

Lawmakers are also attempting to raise the threshold to amend Missouri’s constitution via voter initiatives from 50% to 60%. Republican legislatures throughout the country have been attempting to implement this policy to make it harder for popular policies like reproductive rights, marijuana legalization and others to be adopted via ballot initiatives. In Florida, despite its reproductive rights ballot initiative receiving 57% of the vote last month, the states blocked the initiative because it has a 60% threshold.

Missouri voters approved Amendment 3 on Nov. 5 with 51.61% of the vote, which includes the fundamental right to reproductive freedom into state law. Although its passage doesn’t override current state law, which bans abortions in nearly every case, it allows opponents to sue to overturn the abortion ban.

The first lawsuit challenging Missouri’s abortion ban was fielded on Wednesday in the Jackson County Circuit Court. Planned Parenthood also asked Judge Jerri Zhang to issue a temporary order blocking the enforcement of Missouri’s abortion ban while the court fully processes the lawsuit.

Abortion providers in the state are prepared to resume offering abortion care once Zhang issues her ruling on the temporary injunction, which is expected on Friday.