Missouri voters approve Amendment 3, repeals state abortion ban • Missouri Independent

“We have not accepted this nightmare,” Tori Schafer, deputy director of policy and campaigns for the ACLU of Missouri, told the crowd.

The PAC behind Amendment 3, called Missourians for Constitutional Freedom, has raised more than $31 million this election, funding television ads and other messaging across the state. Abortion opponents raised only a fraction of that amount, but had the support of many of Missouri's top elected officials, who spread the message to “vote no on Amendment 3.”

“Our work to protect women’s safety and the dignity of life continues,” Stephanie Bell of Missouri Stands with Women said in a statement Tuesday, adding, “We will continue to fight and ultimately prevail against the forces that see no.” .”Value in life.”

When the change takes effect in 30 days, abortion will become legal until the point of fetal viability – generally considered the point at which a fetus can survive on its own outside the womb, or about 24 weeks, according to the law American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.

The amendment also protects access to other reproductive health services, such as: B. contraception.

Missourians have long lived with limited or no access to abortion.

That's partly because the state has long elected anti-abortion lawmakers, who in recent years have passed some of the country's more restrictive laws, known as TRAP laws, or “targeted regulation of abortion providers.”

Lawmakers also passed a “trigger law” in 2019 that would take effect if Roe v. Wade falls. When the constitutional right to abortion was struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court in June 2022, Missouri was the first state to do so make virtually all abortions illegal.

Republicans' failed attempt to keep abortion off the ballot in Missouri could be a harbinger of a fight to come

Although the change will take effect in early December, abortion almost certainly won't immediately be readily available across the state.

Missourians for Constitutional Freedom leaders said many of the state's existing TRAP laws, which made access nearly impossible before the abortion ban, must first be challenged in court. They said they plan to move forward with these challenges “soon.”

And they expect a hard-fought path to regaining abortion access.

“Anti-abortion and anti-democracy politicians will try to eradicate us,” Mallory Schwarz, executive director of Abortion Action Missouri, told the crowd after the results were announced. “They're going to try to fight us in court, they're going to file new challenges in Jefferson City.”

State Sen. Mary Elizabeth Coleman, a Republican from Arnold and a leading anti-abortion lawmaker, wrote on social media after Tuesday's vote that she would “do everything in my power” to ensure Missourians have another chance to vote on abortion.

In response to Coleman's post, Schafer said the ACLU of Missouri expects Missouri's abortion rights senators to “filibuster until the cows and chickens come home.”

Last session, Democrats in the Missouri Senate used the filibuster to thwart an attempt by Republican lawmakers to raise the hurdle needed to pass a citizen-initiated constitutional amendment that would have made passage of the abortion rights amendment much more difficult.

In Missouri, a simple majority is required to pass constitutional amendments. In Florida on Tuesday, an abortion rights amendment received a majority of votes but fell short of the 60% support needed for passage.

Missourians for Constitutional Freedom formally launched a citizen-led petition process to put abortion on the ballot in January.

The coalition, whose leaders include the ACLU of Missouri, Abortion Action Missouri and the state's Planned Parenthood affiliates, emphasized the state's strict abortion laws in the months leading up to the election.

According to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, more than 5,000 abortions were performed in Missouri a decade ago. By 2020, that number fell to 167 due to a series of “targeted regulation of abortion providers” laws passed by lawmakers, including a mandatory 72-hour waiting period between the first appointment and a surgical abortion and mandatory gynecological exams for medication abortions.

According to the Department of Health, 74 abortions were performed in Missouri between June 24, 2022 and July 31, 2024 under the state's waiver.

The abortion rights campaign found overwhelming support nationwide early on, submitting more than 380,000 signatures to the Missouri Secretary of State's Office in May.

Those who opposed the change largely launched a grassroots effort to fight the change with the help of anti-abortion lawmakers, churches and activists. Their messages relied heavily on claims that the amendment would legalize gender-affirming surgeries for minors Legal experts have disputed.

Several different PACs formed to encourage Missourians to vote “no” raised a total of a few million dollars to fight the change, including by purchasing radio ads, billboards and fliers, mostly on Word of mouth left to raise concerns about the change.

Susan Prinster, 72, a member of Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Parish in O'Fallon, gathered with a few dozen other parishioners to pray the rosary Tuesday afternoon, hours before polls closed across the state.

“I'm very afraid,” Prinster said after praying the rosary late Tuesday afternoon in St. Charles County as part of a larger effort across the St. Louis Archdiocese to pray for the defeat of Amendment 3. I don’t know where this thing came from.”

Prinster remembers the moment 52 years ago when she learned that Roe v. Wade, a U.S. Supreme Court decision that protected the constitutional right to abortion. She held her first child, still a toddler, in her arms at her home in Missouri.

“It was terrible,” she said, remembering looking down at her child as he swayed in a rocking chair.

Sylvia Kiphart, a retired preschool teacher who now serves as coordinator for Assumption's pro-life program, said she hopes that if Amendment 3 passes, a new ballot measure would be introduced quickly to try to repeal it to cancel.

“We have to stop them,” she said. “We have to. We can’t keep killing babies.”

This story has been updated with details from the winning party on Amendment 3 and reflects the final results.

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