Missourians mobilizing again for fight over future of abortion rights

0:00from St. Louis Public Radio. This is the politically speaking hour on St. Louis on the air. I'm Jason Rosenbaum. We've spent a lot of time on this show talking about things that made it on to the 2026 ballot at the last minute, especially the proposition over the fate of Missouri's 2025 redistricting map. But in some respects, the ballot initiative with the most long-term stakes in Missouri may be Amendment 3, which would, among other things, repeal the constitutional protections for abortion that Missouri voters approved in 2024, and would again implement a near-total ban on the procedure. And even at this early juncture, both sides of this hotly contested issue appear to be mobilizing. Dozens of door knocking volunteers late last month converged at the St. Louis County Republican headquarters in Fenton.

1:05One of the speakers was Tom Estes, a longtime Republican political operative and pastor who is trying to convince Missourians to vote yes on Amendment 3. We just asked now that you'd give us a good program tonight that you would give us an energized group acting and service to you to go out and make sure that this state is once again a pro-life state. Lord, we thank you and we love you. In Jesus' name. Amendment 3 comes roughly two years after Missourians voted to provide constitutional protections for abortion. The 2024 measure, also called Amendment 3, ended the state's strict abortion ban, and also removed scores of state statutes that made it difficult, if not impossible, for abortion clinics to operate throughout the state. This ballot whiplash has many Missourians asking why they're voting on this issue again. And the answer becomes quite evident when listening to people like Attorney General Catherine Hannaway. Many political figures who oppose abortion rights do so because of their moral or religious beliefs.

2:10And they're not going to abandon their advocacy just because a statewide vote did not go their way. I've been pro-life since Roe versus Wade was decided and I was in a Catholic grade school. And we were wearing these little buttons because our school was failing that said save our school. It was just SOS. And the nuns told us no as of today it stands for save our souls. Hannaway is touching on an important reason why abortion rights opponents in Missouri remain quite active after the procedures legalization. This state has a large population of residents who identify as Catholic, or as evangelical Christians. And for the most part, those religious groups are involved in efforts against abortion rights in Missouri. Estus told the crowd that religious groups are playing a role in the effort to pass Amendment 3 similarly to how they nearly defeated the 2024 Amendment protecting abortion.

3:10The 2024 version of Amendment 3 only passed by about 3 percentage points. Church involvement is even better this time than it was last time. Yeah. We have already seen leaders from the Catholic Church, the Missouri Baptist, Assemblies of God, other charismatic denominations have all joined in. Their leadership has said we are all in for Amendment 3. And think about all the church involvement we had last time around, we never had that. In addition to a near total ban on abortions, Amendment 3 includes another provision. It would ban gender affirming care for minors. And some anti-abortion rights activists are banking on the inclusion of that issue to help the proposal get across the finish line. In fact, the first TV ad supporting Amendment 3 doesn't use the word abortion once. Hits don't understand the consequences of sex change surgeries. Vote yes to protect Missouri kids permanently. Vote yes on Amendment 3.

4:14Amendment 3 detractors contend that the gender affirming care provisions were placed in the measure for a very specific reason. Misleading voters into thinking they're not voting for stricter abortion laws. Democratic State Representative Carrie Ingol V. Summit says this strategy is cynical and hurtful to children who identify as transgender. And they knew that they would not be able to go back to their trigger ban or to just let the abortion issue seen on its own. And so they had to marry these two issues together in order to so fear and distrust in Missourians to get them to ban what they had just voted for. The majority of Missourians, the same amount, you know, the same Missourians that voted for all of the Republican statewide elected officials also voted to codify abortion within the Constitution. Former House Speaker Tim Jones, an Amendment 3 supporter, defended the inclusion of the gender affirming care ban right after the pro- Amendment 3 rally wrapped up in Fenton.

5:19You have to point out the big things that this proposal does and it deals with both abortion and the transgender issue. So I think it's fine to vote about everybody knows three deals with abortion. I don't know if folks know if it definitely will address the transgender issue or not. So I think that's why folks leave with that too. But even with the gender affirming care provisions possibly attracting voters, even the strongest supporters of Amendment 3 acknowledge that they have a challenging road to win in November. For one thing, Missouri abortion rights supporters are not just sitting helplessly watching their most significant public policy victory get repealed. A group called Stop the Band has raised more than $13.5 million in large donations since January. Those millions come from politically active nonprofit groups like the Fairness Project, as well as billionaires like former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. In Margo Ripagandon of Planned Parenthood, Great Rivers Action says that abortion rights opponents are misjudging the mood of Missourians.

6:26I think the interesting factor that gets layered in here is the will of the people. Right, we have already voted on this. We voted on this in 2024 with the right to reproductive freedom initiative. We are voting on this again. And what we hear over and over again on the doors is that folks are tired of this. They say we've already voted for this. We want abortion access in our state. We are clear on this. Voters are clear that these are more games coming out of Jefferson City and from our elected officials. And they're tired of it. So, you know, in some ways it does simplify the strategy because the conversations are organic and they are already happening. Where folks are tired of these games. They're tired of games with their lives and with their health care. And they're ready to vote no in November. One of the uncomfortable problems for abortion rights opponents is that the 2024 version of Amendment 3 received roughly 338,000 more votes than Democratic presidential nominees.

7:28That means Donald Trump voters absolutely played a pivotal role in legalizing abortion and Missouri. And Trump has never been particularly passionate about embracing strict abortion bans. Just listen to how he reacted in 2024 when he was asked whether he supported maintaining Florida's abortion ban after six weeks of pregnancy. I think it's got to be longer than six weeks personally. I've done a great job in this for the people. They wanted to get it back in the states. They wanted to vote in the people. All Democrats wanted it. All Republicans wanted it. Everybody. And I'm a believer in the exceptions. That's life of the mother rape and incest. And I believe strongly that as Ronald Reagan and others have, and most of the party does. But I think it's got to be longer than six weeks. For context, before 2024, Missouri banned all abortions except for medical emergencies. The 2026 version of Amendment 3 would again restrict the procedure while allowing exceptions for medical emergencies and rape and incest up to 12 weeks of pregnancy.

8:36It would also allow abortion in the case of fetal anomalies. So that's more restrictive than the Florida ban that Trump was talking about in that clip. And that brings up yet another problem for Amendment 3 supporters. Some abortion rights opponents strongly oppose having exceptions for rape and incest and are openly opposing the 2026 version of Amendment 3. Whether that proves to be statistically significant remains to be seen. But Jones, the former House Speaker, told me that those activists should not let the perfect be the enemy of the good. We didn't ban abortion overnight in Missouri. We're not going to get back to that situation. I think this is a perfect, this is a perfect position that I would argue the majority of Missourians right left and center would be in favor of. Now both sides of the Amendment 3 fight, expect the November election to be close. And it's possible that abortion rights opponents will turn out in force even in a year that is largely seen as favorable to Democrats.

9:39And even though abortion is often portrayed as being a simple issue of right versus wrong, there are voters who often come to their positions on whether it should be legal from more complicated paths. That includes John Wilerton. He's a 76 year old retiree who lives in unincorporated Jefferson County. He's religious and thinks abortion is morally wrong, but he's not a Republican and he does not think the government should ban the procedure. And it will appeal to a certain number of especially very conservative groups like Southern Baptist and many Catholics. Lutherans too, I happen to be Lutheran and the Lutheran takes the truth and truth exists is that abortion is wrong. And so what better way to make sure that doesn't happen than to create law for it.

10:40So in some ways I'm going to be going against the wishes of my own church. No matter how this year's ballot initiative turns out, it's unlikely to be the last one. Abortion energizes and divides people like few other issues in Missouri politics. This episode was produced and recorded by Jason Rosenbaum. Podcast designed by Aaron Doerr. Our executive producer is Alex Hoyer. St. Louis on the air is a production of St. Louis Public Radio. Understanding starts here. Do you find yourself regularly listening to episodes of St. Louis on the air? Suggest us to a friend you think might enjoy our conversations.

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