© 2025 Kansas City Public Radio
NPR in Kansas City
Donate
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
Up To Date

The last time Missouri banned abortions

Published August 10, 2022 at 9:09 AM CDT
Ways To Subscribe
David White, KCUR 89.3
/
Images Courtesy Of Parker Smith and Kati Ray

This isn't the first time Missouri has banned abortions. Residents may have heard ghoulish tales of “Doc Annie” Smith, a physician who looms large in Missouri’s mythology for performing illegal abortions in the early 1900s. Today, the truth about her work has largely disappeared.

This episode originally aired on the KCUR podcast A People’s History of Kansas City.

Read more about what a Missouri ‘ghost story’ reveals about the last time the state banned abortions from KCUR's Mackenzie Martin.

For more stories like this one, subscribe to A People's History of Kansas City on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher.

Up To Date
Stay Connected
Defunded, but not defeated.
Congress just eliminated federal funding for KCUR, but public radio is for the people.

Your support has always made KCUR's work possible — from reporting that keeps officials accountable, to storytelling to connects our community. Help ensure the future of local journalism.
Protect KCUR