Reproductive rights

The activists who tried and failed to defeat Missouri's 2024 abortion-rights amendment have regrouped under a new PAC called“Her Health, Her Future." They're betting that more time, tighter coordination and earlier backing from top Missouri Republicans can help them pass an abortion ban measure this fall.

Labor, reproductive rights, LGBTQ+ advocacy and faith groups in Missouri are testing a shared message against what they see as a growing list of threats from Republican lawmakers — including a plan to eliminate the state income tax and expand sales taxes on goods and services.

Sarah Ruden uncovers how literature about women has been used to justify control over their bodies, starting with ancient poetry through modern debates. She'll be speaking about her new book "Reproductive Wrongs" at the Kansas City Public Library this week.

For the second year in a row, state Sen. Mike Moon, an Ash Grove Republican, is sponsoring a proposed constitutional amendment that would treat embryos as people, potentially exposing abortion patients and providers to murder charges and eliminating rape and incest exceptions.

Currently, pregnant women in Missouri can file for divorce, but a judge could prevent it from being finalized. House lawmakers voted 147-0 to pass a bill removing that barrier.

The legislation threatens the death penalty if doctors don't provide life-saving care to babies born after an attempted abortion. It also opens the door for lawsuits against people who help someone access abortion medication.

At a protest in the state Capitol on Wednesday, hundreds of Missourians urged lawmakers to respect their will on reproductive rights and paid sick leave — two measures that voters passed in 2024 but the legislature moved to reverse immediately after.

For the tens of thousands of Missouri women seeking abortions and the clinic staff charged with offering this health care, the past decade has presented harrowing challenges. That’s what attorneys on behalf of Planned Parenthood argued in the first week of a trial in Kansas City that could reshape Missouri abortion regulations.

The Missouri Attorney General's Office renewed its attempts to access abortion patient records as the state tries to build a case in favor of strict abortion regulations

The health care provider is closing its brick-and-mortar location in Rolla, citing attacks on health care access and funding by Missouri lawmakers. Planned Parenthood did not provide abortion services at that facility.

Abortion may be legal again in Missouri, but only 80 elective abortions have been performed in the year since Amendment 3 passed. Decades of restrictions have gutted the state’s provider network, and medication abortion is still unavailable as the courts sort out which old laws are constitutional.

The Missouri attorney general’s office is demanding Planned Parenthood hand over patient medical records and other documents for a pending court trial. We speak to a reporter to find out more about the case.