reproductive health

In August, Planned Parenthood opened a clinic in Pittsburgh, Kansas — just five miles from the Missouri border. But workers don't expect demand at the clinic to decline after Missouri voted to lift it's current abortion ban. Plus: Midwest builders are using wood in a new, climate-friendly way to construct high rises.

Dr. Betsy Wickstrom, a high-risk OB-GYN in Kansas City, is a Republican and a Christian but supported last month's abortion-rights amendment. She's concerned about what the future may hold with Missouri lawmakers threatening to overturn some of its protections.

The leader of Planned Parenthood Great Plains says the move is a ploy to prevent a Jackson County judge from potentially knocking down other abortion restrictions. Andrew Bailey says his office will continue to enforce laws requiring parental consent and outlawing coercion.

More than a dozen religious leaders had challenged Missouri's near-total abortion ban in 2023, on the grounds it contained explicitly religious language and violated the state constitution.

While passing Amendment 3 safeguards abortion rights in Missouri for now, health care providers say people are still worried about access to reproductive care under the incoming administration of President-elect Donald Trump.

Missouri became the first state to overturn a near-total abortion ban through a voter referendum in last week's election. Planned Parenthood Great Plains president Emily Wales says they're ready to resume abortion services by early December, although prolonged legal battles could push that date back.

If adopted by Missouri voters on Nov. 5, Amendment 3 would end the state's near-total abortion ban and would cement the right to reproductive freedom in the constitution. Opponents have criticized the ballot language for being too broad — and in some cases have spread misinformation about it.

Catholic bishops donated roughly $30,000 in Missouri, where an abortion rights amendment is on the ballot. That's just a fraction of the nearly $3.7 million that a Kansas diocese donated two years ago.

Recent polling by The Midwest Newsroom and Emerson College found that 56% of respondents considered the state’s current abortion ban to be too strict. But opponents of abortion rights argue that Amendment 3, the legalization ballot issue this November, would be too expansive.

Natural birth centers that aren’t affiliated with hospitals are becoming more popular, but patients across the Kansas City area are left with few options after a local center closed. Plus: Kernza is a relatively new grain with a budding future as a sustainable crop, but it's struggling to find a market.

Birthing centers, which offer natural, low-intervention births to low-risk moms, are becoming more and more popular. But regardless of demand, they’re struggling to stay open.

A plurality of Kansas voters say it’s a good thing that the state is a regional abortion access point, according to a survey by the Midwest Newsroom and Emerson College Polling Center.