After the fall of Roe v. Wade in 2022, Missouri was the first state in the country to make abortion illegal. Since then, the state has maintained a near-total ban on the procedure except in the event of medical emergencies. The current law has no exceptions for rape or incest.
On Nov. 5, Missouri voters will decide whether to go against the state's GOP leaders and enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution through Amendment 3. A citizen-led initiative petition, the measure would legalize abortion up to fetal viability — around 24 weeks.
Rachel Sweet is the campaign manager for Missourians for Constitutional Freedom, the coalition behind Amendment 3. She says a “yes” vote on the measure would do more than restore abortion access.
“This is about ending Missouri's abortion ban, and it is about protecting the right to care for miscarriages, to prenatal and postnatal care, to birth control, to IVF, to those types of reproductive health care and services that women in Missouri need,” Sweet told KCUR’s Up To Date.
Missourians for Constitutional Freedom gathered more than 380,000 signatures to get on the ballot this fall, and has raised more than $31 million. That’s 10 times more than the political action committees seeking to stop the measure.
However, some opponents say they would rather see changes to the current law be handled by lawmakers, and not baked into the constitution. Missouri General Assembly is currently controlled by a GOP supermajority in both chambers.
“There are individuals out there who might think that we need exceptions in our law right now,” Missouri Stands with Women spokesperson Stephanie Bell says. “What they could do is they could elect legislators and they could tweak the existing law.”
Missouri Stands with Women is one of several groups formed to defeat Amendment 3. It claims the ballot language is far too broad and opens the door to taxpayer-funded abortions, gender-affirming care for minors without parental consent and abortion up to the point of birth. However, legal experts say these assertions are misleading at the very least, and in some cases false.
“The opponents of the amendment have really gone on the offensive to try and make this about sort of anything, but what it is, which is protecting fertility and abortion access and reproductive health care more broadly,” says Yvette Lindgren, an associate professor of law at the University of Missouri-Kansas City.
Recent polling by The Midwest Newsroom and Emerson College found that 56% of respondents consider Missouri's current abortion ban too strict.
- Rachel Sweet, campaign manager, Missourians for Constitutional Freedom
- Stephanie Bell, spokesperson, Missouri Stands with Women
- Yvette Lindgren, associate professor, University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law
