Missouri Approves Abortion Rights with 51.6% Vote, GOP Pushes New Restrictions

Dec 5, 2024, 10:17 AM

Missouri voters narrowly approved Amendment 3 on November 5, 2024, with 51.6% of the vote, overturning the state's near-total abortion ban and making Missouri the first state to guarantee abortion rights after previously having such a ban. Despite the amendment's passage, Republican lawmakers in the state, which has a Republican trifecta, have introduced several measures aimed at restricting abortion access or making it harder for future voter-driven amendments to succeed. One proposed measure seeks to amend the state's constitution to define life as beginning at conception, classifying abortion as an unlawful killing. Critics, including Senator McCreery, argue that these efforts undermine the will of the voters, noting bipartisan support for Amendment 3.