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Josh Hawley lies about Missouri abortion amendment with attacks on transgender health care

U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley, center, on Thursday, July 13, 2023 at the Dept. of Energy’s Weldon Spring Site Interpretive Center in St. Charles County. Wednesday, after new reporting on ongoing radioactive contamination in the St. Louis area, Hawley introduced legislation to create a fund for those impacted by the contamination. Also pictured, from left, is Rep. Tricia Byrnes, R-Wentzville, Just Moms STL founders Dawn Chapman and Karen Nickel, Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft, Sen. Bill Eigel, R-Weldon Springs, and Rep. Richard West, R-Wentzville.
Tristen Rouse
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St. Louis Public Radio
U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley, center, on Thursday, July 13, 2023 at the Dept. of Energy’s Weldon Spring Site Interpretive Center in St. Charles County.

The Missouri senator, who's also running for re-election in November, rallied against Amendment 3 at an event earlier this month held by the First Baptist Church in Ozark.

Missouri Senator Josh Hawley rallied against Amendment 3 at an event earlier this month, falsely connecting the ballot question on abortion access to gender-affirming care for young people.

Hawley addressed the “Cultural Impact Conference” hosted by First Baptist Church in Ozark, on Sept. 7, days before the Missouri Supreme Court ruled Amendment 3 will remain on the November ballot. The initiative would put the right to an abortion into the state constitution. KSMU in Springfield reports that in his speech the Republican Senator erroneously linked Amendment 3 to health care for transgender youth.

“This is about an effort to come into our schools behind your backs without your knowledge, to tell our kids that there's something wrong with them and to give them drugs that will sterilize them for life, to push them toward procedures that will fundamentally change their bodies irrevocably for life,” Hawley said at the event. “And there will be nothing we can do about it.”

Supporters of Amendment 3, including the ACLU, and Hawley’s Senate race opponent, Democrat Lucas Kunce, have condemned his remarks as false and a distraction, KSMU reports.

In response, the Republican Senator's spokesperson said Monday afternoon on X, formerly known as Twitter, that Hawley is making an argument that reproductive health care encompasses transgender care.

If passed, Amendment 3 would effectively reverse the state’s ban on abortion, which went into effect in 2022 after the U.S. Supreme Court decision on Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization overturned the constitutional right to the procedure. The amendment would also give patients rights over their own reproductive health care decisions and create an exception to protect the “life and health” of the pregnant person after the point of fetal viability, around 24 weeks.

In addition, Hawley’s fear mongering on trans health care for youth referenced practices that are already largely restricted in Missouri. In 2023, the state passed a sweeping ban on gender-affirming care for minors.

See the full text of the constitutional amendment below:

Copyright 2024 St. Louis Public Radio

Corrected: September 16, 2024 at 4:14 PM CDT
Sen. Josh Hawley addressed the Cultural Impact Conference on Sept. 7. A previous version of this article misstated the date of the event.
Abby Llorico
Jessica Rogen is the digital editor for St. Louis Public Radio.
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