The Associated Press called Missouri’s Amendment 3 defeated, preserving the state’s 2024 abortion-rights vote after a campaign that joined abortion restrictions with limits on transgender care for minors.
NPR reported that the Republican-led legislature advanced the measure to the ballot. It would have barred abortion, with exceptions for rape or incest during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy and for fetal anomalies later in pregnancy. Missouri voters approved abortion rights in 2024, and the proposed constitutional change would have reversed that vote. The current state framework allows abortion until fetal viability, with limits on procedure methods, NPR reported.
A second part of the amendment would have put restrictions on hormone treatment, puberty blockers and gender-affirming operations for minors into the state constitution. NPR said Missouri already prohibits gender-affirming care for minors under state law, although restrictions on hormone therapy and puberty blockers are due to expire in 2027.
Campaign messaging put those care provisions at the center. NPR reported that many ads supporting the measure highlighted the proposed care ban without mentioning abortion, while opponents called that emphasis a misdirection. Republican state Auditor Scott Fitzpatrick defended the approach, describing abortion as “closer to a 50/50 issue” and transgender medical procedures as “probably more like an 80/20 issue.”
Gov. Mike Kehoe and other Republican leaders campaigned for passage, NPR reported. The committee opposing Amendment 3 received more than $26 million in donations of at least $5,000 since the start of the year, compared with about $6.7 million in large donations for the campaign seeking passage, the outlet reported.
Missouri was one of four states with an abortion measure on the Nov. 3 ballot, NPR reported. Since the U.S. Supreme Court ended federal abortion protections in 2022, abortion policy has been set state by state. NPR described the defeat as a major victory for abortion-rights supporters and a signal of voter support for transgender rights.
