JEFFERSON CITY — Just as it seemed funding for new stadiums for the Kansas City Chiefs and Royals and getting rid of the paid sick leave portion of Proposition A might define the end of the legislative session, abortion was back at center stage.

The Senate approved House Joint Resolution 73 Wednesday afternoon, putting a near-total ban on abortion on the ballot in 2026.

Before the vote, Senate Democrats filibustered Wednesday to prevent a vote on House Joint Resolution 73 , which would allow Missourians to vote to ban all abortions except in cases of medical emergency, rape, and incest — and only up to 12 weeks into a pregnancy.

The filibuster was ended by Senate Republicans using a process called PQ, or previous question. Two-thirds of the Senate voted to approve the PQ, which forces a vote on the legislation at hand.

The PQ is a move rarely used in the Missouri Senate. The last time it was implemented was in 2020.

"We're now functioning in a body that would rather spend more time overturning the will of the people than actually passing laws that are going to make our state better," said Sen. Brian William, D-St. Louis, when referring to a bill regarding professional licensing .

Several dozen abortion rights opponents were in the Senate gallery dressed in red on Wednesday to support HJR 73. Sheryl McGilvray from Washington, Missouri, was one of them.

"I'm concerned about abortions, period. The murdering of the unborn," she said. "You know, we're killing our doctors and lawyers and politicians, lawmakers. We're killing important people that should be here."

But, for the people who were there in the gallery, most of what they saw was defiant Democratic Senators preventing a vote on the legislation they came to support.

"This is about just simply upholding the will of the people and doing exactly what the voters sent us here to do, and that is to mind our business when it comes to decisions that women make with their bodies," Williams said emphatically on the Senate floor, with the whole gallery watching.

Stalling this legislation is the Democrats' objective, and McGilvray said the lack of legislative action has been frustrating.

"They need to get on it," she said. "I'm really frustrated with what I saw down there ... I see nothing. And, I'm thinking, we're paying them to talk, like, just chit chat?"

Democrats could talk all the way until 6 p.m. on Friday and end the session with no new legislation passed. However, Republicans have a strategic, but also controversial, maneuver at their disposal.

"It takes 10 Senators to request, in written format, the previous question, the PQ," said Amy Gossett, a political science professor at Lincoln University in Jefferson City. "It's considered, in a lot of ways, the nuclear option because the filibuster allows unlimited debate to go on. It's almost a gentlemanly term. But, the PQ is something that will immediately end the filibuster if two-thirds of the Senators agree to the vote, and then they have to actually vote at the main issue at hand."

The PQ is a move rarely used in the Missouri Senate. The last time it was implemented was in 2020.

"If you call for this all-out war on the filibuster, and that's really what you're doing, is you're saying OK, we're not going to let you do this. Chances are, next year, they might not let you do it," Gossett said.

After House Republicans axed a $500 million construction spending bill from the state budget, some Senate Republicans have been reluctant to let any House legislation pass through the higher chamber.

As the PQ process would require almost every Republican senator to vote for it, the fractions over the budget may prove enough to divide Republicans and prevent a PQ.