Amendment 3 supporters say the fight to restore abortion access in Missouri is far from over.
Voters on Tuesday approved the ballot initiative that places the right to abortion in the Missouri Constitution. Planned Parenthood officials then sued to overturn Missouri’s abortion ban and other laws they say place unnecessary burdens on patients and providers.
At a rally in St. Louis on Thursday, Amendment 3 supporters said they expect legal challenges from legislators who oppose abortion.
“We'll have lawsuits and legislative battles and countless opportunities to take action,” Abortion Action Missouri Executive Director Mallory Schwarz told the crowd of around 100 who gathered at Planned Parenthood’s Central West End clinic. “The only way we will continue to be successful in these endeavors is if the people that showed up over this last year continue to show up and bring their neighbors with them too.”
Planned Parenthood is asking a judge to overturn the state’s near-total abortion ban. An injunction would allow the provider to again offer abortions in the state starting early next month.
Amendment 3 allows abortion to the point of fetal viability, or to around 24 weeks of pregnancy.
Opponents of abortion in the Missouri legislature have said they will continue to fight to restrict the procedure.
“This won’t be the last time Missourians vote on so-called ‘reproductive rights,’ which has been co-opted by the left to include gender-transition surgeries for kids without parental consent,” state Sen. Mary Elizabeth Coleman R-Arnold, said in a statement after the amendment passed. “I will do everything in my power to ensure that vote happens.”
Amendment 3 does not contain language about gender-affirming care for minors or any other patients, and supporters of the measure have condemned remarks connecting the two as false and distracting.
Ashley Jaworski, an abortion rights supporter who attended the rally, said she knew that gathering signatures wasn't going to be the end.
“I anticipate the next few months there's going to be a lot of legal battles,” she said. “We're going to be phone banking. We're going to be emailing people. We're going to be meeting and strategizing.”
Amendment 3 faced multiple challenges from activists and elected officials, including Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey, before making it onto this week’s ballot.
Rally speaker Sam Hawickhorst said supporters of Amendment 3 will need to stay engaged to reestablish abortion access in the state. Instead of knocking on doors and phone-banking, volunteers may need to travel to Jefferson City.
“There could be more committee hearings where we'll need people to show up. There could be open hearings where we can have people who are like-minded, like us, show up and sit there and have their voices heard,” she said. “It's very empowering to share your story and be looking a lawmaker dead in the eyes who wants to make laws against your very existence.”
Attendee Nancy OBrien said the legislature had in the past taken a long time to enact more progressive ballot measures, such as when voters approved expanding Medicaid to more people in 2020.
“They need to overturn this ban, so we expect that we're probably going to have to go to Jefferson City and talk to our representatives when they get back in office,” she said. “Just do whatever we can, and it will be a legal fight.”
This story has been updated to reflect that state Sen. Mary Elizbeth Coleman falsely connected the ballot question on abortion access to gender-affirming care for young people.
