In 2024, Missouri voters overturned the state’s near total abortion ban. The vote to pass Amendment 3 enshrined reproductive health care and access to contraceptives in the state constitution.
But more than a year later, few patients are able to access abortion care in Missouri.
Restrictions known as “targeted regulation of abortion providers,” or TRAP laws, limit who and where abortion care can be provided. Currently, there are three non-hospital facilities in Missouri providing surgical abortions. Medication abortion, which is FDA approved and the most commonly sought form of abortion, is still not offered in the state.
Abortion rights advocates head to court next week in a trial that will determine if Missouri’s existing restrictions violate Amendment 3 and the state constitution.
“There's going to be a lot of discussion with the court in the next couple of weeks explaining why those laws are discriminatory and go exactly against what the constitutional protection provides,” said Emily Wales, CEO of Planned Parenthood Great Plains.
Last year, Missouri Republican lawmakers approved a ballot measure for the November 2026 election that could reverse Amendment 3 and ban abortions in the state once again.
