JEFFERSON CITY • Voters would get a say on whether fetuses should be given constitutional rights under a measure that won first-round approval in the Missouri House on Tuesday.

The House voted 112-36 to advance the legislation, with Alan Green, D-Florissant, voting “present” and 13 members absent.

The measure still needs final approval in the House to advance to the Missouri Senate. With less than two weeks in the legislative session, it’s unclear what action the Senate will take. The legislation doesn’t need the signature of Gov. Jay Nixon, a Democrat, to make the ballot.

Under the measure, voters would be asked if the state constitution should be amended to “protect pregnant women and unborn children by recognizing that an unborn child is a person with a right to life which cannot be deprived by state or private action without due process and equal protection of law.”

Opponents said the resolution was the most extreme abortion-related proposal the Legislature has taken up this year, potentially outlawing abortion in cases of rape or when the life of a mother is in jeopardy. They also said it could make contraception illegal in the state.