Missouri was one the first states to ban most abortions after Roe v. Wade fell in 2022, but now abortion rights opponents are facing a serious challenge in November.
Amendment 3 would enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution. Even though supporters have a massive financial advantage and scores of volunteers across the state, Stephanie Bell of Missouri Stands With Women said the more people hear about what’s actually in the proposal — the less they like it.
“There are lots of provisions within this that would be enshrined into our constitution that I think are causing lots of Missourians very real concerns,” Bell said on the Politically Speaking Hour on St. Louis on the Air.
A campaign committee supporting Amendment 3 has raised more than $23 million in donations of $5,000 or more from the beginning of the year through mid-October.
And recent polling by the Midwest Newsroom and Emerson College found that 56% of respondents considered the state’s law to be too strict. And other public polls have shown Amendment 3 going well beyond the 50% threshold needed to pass.
“This is a very divisive issue, and I think people are kind of very decided on where their line of abortion access is,” said Midwest Newsroom data journalist Daniel Wheaton during an appearance on the Politically Speaking Hour. “And given that majorities say that it's too strict within this one poll, it's a sign that maybe things will expand in Missouri in the coming years, if not on this amendment, perhaps one in the future.”
Bell said that while Missourians may not agree with the current law, the best way to change it is through the legislature — not the Missouri Constitution.
“If you support those tweaks, you could elect officials,” said Bell, referring to creating exceptions for rape, incest or fatal fetal abnormalities. “You could lobby the legislature to have those tweaks made to current law.”
Some of the state lawmakers who crafted the current abortion ban — including Mary Elizabeth Coleman and Nick Schroer — are serving in the Senate, where it’s easier for individual lawmakers to stall legislation.
Asked if that could be a major impediment to changing the current abortion law if Amendment 3 fails, Bell said, “I got out of the game of predicting what the legislature is going to do a long time ago.”
Too expansive?
Amendment 3 would, among other things, place language in the constitution that protects abortion up until fetal viability. Medical professionals could perform the procedure beyond that if an abortion “in the good faith judgment of a treating health care professional is needed to protect the life or physical or mental health of the mother.”
Bell and other Amendment 3 foes say that language could allow for someone to seek an abortion in the eighth or ninth month of pregnancy.
“I don't think it's going to be a significant barrier post-fetal viability for individuals seeking abortions well into the third term,” she said.
But Amendment 3 backers, including some medical professional supporting the measure, have said women seek abortion later in pregnancy when there’s a catastrophic emergency — not because they’ve changed their minds.
“These ideas of like a 32-week abortion? No, it's a delivery,” said Kansas City physician Betsy Wickstrom during a press call supporting Amendment 3. “And we hand them to the neonatologist and say, Here's this preterm baby.”
Asked if she’s heard of a situation where someone went to get an abortion at eight or nine months of pregnancy and didn’t have a critical medical situation, Bell replied: “I think that is a real fear, should this amendment pass.”
Bell and other Amendment 3 opponents have contended that the definition of reproductive health care is so broad, it could end up striking down Missouri’s ban on gender transition surgery for minors.
“You could just add a sentence on the end of there that says reproductive health care does not include gender-affirming health care, or whatever term you want to use,” Bell said.
Bell pointed to how some groups have called gender-affirming care reproductive health care. But some legal experts have disputed this interpretation, since not all gender transition surgery involves the removal of reproductive organs.
Proponents of Amendment 3 appeared on the Politically Speaking Hour earlier this year. That interview is available here.
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