Roe v. Wade

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.

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.

Much of Kansas City experiences some heat island effect. As global temperatures rise, Kansas City planners and environmental experts are trying harder to make these hot spots cooler. Plus: Missouri hasn't just outlawed abortion — it's also funding anti-abortion organizations that are working in neighboring states.

Advocates for abortion rights in Missouri say they are feeling cautiously optimistic about the statewide vote coming up in November.

The Kansas Supreme Court on Friday reaffirmed that abortion rights are protected by the state constitution, and that lawmakers seeking to restrict abortion must meet a high “strict scrutiny” test. It was a decision that cemented Kansas' role as a key abortion access point for patients across the broader region.

The U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade two years ago. Missouri — which has some of the highest maternal mortality rates in the country — was the first state to ban almost all abortions, leaving thousands of Missourians to seek other ways to access the medical procedure.

In the two years following the U.S. Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision that overturned abortion protections nationwide, the practice was almost entirely banned in Missouri. Meanwhile, clinics in Kansas have seen out-of-state abortion patients skyrocket.

Shefali Luthra's new book "Undue Burden: Life and Death Decisions in Post-Roe America" tells real stories of Americans seeking abortion care in an era when the legality of the procedure differs state to state.

State laws on abortion keep changing — with new bans taking effect in some places while new protections are enacted in others. And abortion will be on the ballot in at least four states, including Missouri.

U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley is up for reelection this year, and Democratic challenger Lucas Kunce hopes to use Hawley's anti-abortion stance against him. The matchup could be on the ballot as the same time as a constitutional amendment legalizing abortion rights.

The Pittsburg health center will be the third clinic providing abortions to open in Kansas since the U.S. Supreme Court decision overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, causing an influx of patients from surrounding states.