A trial in Missouri illustrates how hard it is to restore abortion rights, even when voters demand it

After Missouri residents voted to repeal their state’s near-total abortion ban and enshrine abortion rights into their state constitution, advocates quickly got to work. In a lawsuit filed the day after the 2024 election, abortion providers challenged not only the constitutionality of the state’s ban, but also a slew of other restrictions that, they said, made their jobs so arduous as to be impossible.

More than a year later, they are still in court.