Anna Spoerre
Reporter, Missouri IndependentAnna Spoerre covers reproductive health care for The Missouri Independent. A graduate of Southern Illinois University, she most recently worked at the Kansas City Star where she focused on storytelling that put people at the center of wider issues. Before that she was a courts reporter for the Des Moines Register.
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Abortion may be legal again in Missouri, but only 80 elective abortions have been performed in the year since Amendment 3 passed. Decades of restrictions have gutted the state’s provider network, and medication abortion is still unavailable as the courts sort out which old laws are constitutional. -
The proposed constitutional amendment also includes a ban on gender-affirming health care for minors, a provision opponents say violates a state law requiring amendments only cover one subject. -
Oscarina gave birth to her son without her husband after he was deported from Missouri months earlier. Advocates, activists and attorneys say many undocumented mothers are foregoing medical care out of fear of being detained and deported. -
The FDA approved a new generic form of mifepristone in September, expanding the accessibility of a common abortion medication. Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway is taking over a lawsuit challenging the approval in federal court. -
Procedural abortions are available at three Planned Parenthood clinics in Missouri, but medication abortions remain completely unavailable as numerous legal fights unfold over the state's restrictions. -
Volunteers at protests across the state focused on collecting signatures for a 2026 ballot measure that would overturn Missouri's recent redistricting plan. The new map was drawn by Republican lawmakers to weaken Democratic voting power around Kansas City. -
Former Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey argued that reinstating the state's abortion regulations would not cause "irreparable harm" to patients. The appeals court rejected that claim, allowing Planned Parenthood clinics in Kansas City, Columbia and St. Louis to continue offering services. -
A Jackson County judge determined the nonprofit did not have standing to sue Missouri over the parental consent law. But she did not draw any conclusions about whether the restriction is unconstitutional under the abortion rights amendment passed by voters last year. -
The office of Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway is subpoenaing patient medical records, incident reports, “adverse event documentation” and more from Planned Parenthood. The organization called the request "nothing more than an attempt to harass" them and is fighting back in court. -
The proposed amendment drafted by Republican lawmakers will appear before voters in November 2026, two years after Missourians codified the right to reproductive health care in the state constitution.
