The constitutional ballot measure aims to roll back a 2024 amendment that established abortion rights. The ballot measure would also prohibit so-called gender transition procedures for minors.
Missouri was one of 14 states to have a constitutional amendment on the ballot to provide “the fundamental right to reproductive freedom” following the overturning of Roe v. Wade. Eleven states, including Missouri, passed the amendment.
Missouri will be the first state, however, to allow its voters to decide whether to repeal an abortion rights amendment.
Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway joined the “Washington Watch” program to discuss the upcoming vote, emphasizing that the measure is balanced and includes key exceptions.
“What’s going to be on the ballot in November is not a total ban. There are exceptions for rape, incest and the life of the mother. It also allows the legislature to put in place health and safety measures to protect the unborn and the woman going to have any one of these procedures,” Hanaway explains.
Missouri Amendment 3, also known as the “Prohibit Abortion and Gender Transition Procedures for Minors Amendment,” will be on the ballot on November 3 for Missourians to vote for or against.
She also pushed back against opponents claiming that the amendment would prevent women from receiving emergency medical care during complications like ectopic pregnancies.
“This measure makes exceptions for when the life of the mother is truly at stake. That will allow women to have any kind of care that they need so that they can have more children in the future,” Hanaway says. “I think of all the messages that the pro-abortion people are putting out there… it's a flat-out lie. They're lying and saying that women wouldn’t be able to get these life-saving measures.”
Additionally, Hanaway noted that Amendment 3 would permanently enshrine protections for minors into the state constitution before current statutory restrictions expire.
