Missouri’s current law bans abortion with almost no exceptions and this amendment would allow abortion to about 24 weeks of pregnancy.

Supporters of ranked-choice voting had argued it would discourage the polarization and dysfunction that have roiled the Missouri Capitol in recent years.

When Missouri on Tuesday became the first state to overturn a near-total abortion ban by the vote of the people, Desiree White cried happy tears. Twenty-five years earlier, she and her husband chose to terminate a pregnancy they very much wanted after they received a diagnosis of a fatal fetal abnormality.