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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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.
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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.
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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.
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Former Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey and Republican attorneys general from Kansas and Idaho intervened in a case aimed at challenging the safety of mifepristone. After the U.S. Supreme Court said that anti-abortion groups couldn’t sue, Missouri became the lead plaintiff.
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A group called "Stop The Ban" is already receiving six-figure donations for its effort to defeat a proposed constitutional amendment that would repeal abortion rights in Missouri. The amendment was written by Republican lawmakers and is set to appear on the 2026 ballot.
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Missouri Secretary of State Denny Hoskins will have to rewrite the ballot summary for a proposed constitutional amendment a third time, because the judge ruled that it "fails to adequately alert voters" that the measure would ban abortion.
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A judge ordered Missouri Secretary of State Denny Hoskins to rewrite the ballot language for an anti-abortion ballot measure, calling it "insufficient and unfair” because it failed to mention the amendment would repeal abortion rights. Hoskins' new language still doesn't mention the ban.
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A recent Missouri law giving the attorney general the sole power to appeal preliminary injunctions in cases involving state law is unconstitutional, a judge ruled this week. Attorney General Catherine Hanaway plans to appeal.
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The amendment placed on Missouri's ballot by Republican lawmakers would repeal the amendment passed last November that restored abortion rights. The legislative proposal will appear on a 2026 statewide ballot as Amendment 3, the same name held by the previous abortion rights amendment.
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Despite Missourians voting to legalize abortion 10 months ago, Planned Parenthood remains unable to prescribe abortion medication — the most common kind of abortion — to patients.