Missouri voters could undo their state’s abortion ban. Making abortion accessible is a different story.

But even if the measure passes, abortion will likely remain limited in the immediate and near future, thanks to that complex maze of anti-abortion restrictions that chipped away at abortion availability for so many years. …..

The fear she felt — the one that left her unable to tell her doctor or trust a hospital to care for her in case of an emergency — would evaporate.

“It’s the difference between knowing that you can talk to people, knowing that you don’t have to be in secret, that you can go to your doctor,” she said. “It sounds so simple, but when you cannot talk to a medical doctor about something that’s going on with you — it’s hard for people to understand that feeling until it happens to them, that fear that grips you.”