This year, 2026, Missourians will vote on a constitutional amendment that would repeal the vote Missourians just took in 2024, to legalize abortion, and BAN abortion all over again.
What Happened in 2024
In 2024, Missouri made history as the first state in the nation to legalize abortion at the ballot box. Missouri voters passed the Right to Reproductive Freedom Amendment, which legalized abortion and enshrined the right to reproductive freedom in the state constitution, including the right to access abortion care, prenatal care, childbirth, postpartum care, birth control, miscarriage care, and respectful birthing conditions. Missourians sent a clear message: politicians do not belong in our families' private decision-making.
This Amendment, that does the opposite of what voters decided in 2024,
is also named Amendment 3.
What is Happening Now in 2026
Politicians are now trying to repeal the Right to Reproductive Freedom Amendment with a new, tricky amendment that would actually ban abortion all over again. They know that banning abortion isn’t popular with Missourians so they’re trying everything they can think of to muddy the waters about what this amendment does: first, they combined two issues adding an attack on trans kids to the abortion ban, next they left out any mention of the near- total abortion ban in the ballot summary language that voters will actually read; and finally they assigned the abortion ban the exact same amendment number as the 2024 amendment that ENDED the old ban on abortion.
Missouri courts have already ruled that politicians used misleading ballot language to hide the true impact of the new Amendment 3, confirming what we all know to be true: politicians are trying to deceive voters as they work to ban abortion and overturn the will of the people.
IMPORTANT
Do not conflate the 2024 Amendment and the 2026 Amendment
They are both Amendment 3
- When referring to the vote to legalize abortion in 2024 say, “the Right to Reproductive Freedom Amendment that legalized abortion care.”
- When referring to the upcoming vote to determine whether abortion remains legal in Missouri say, “Amendment 3, the abortion ban,” or, “the new Amendment 3 that would repeal Missourians vote and ban abortion all over again.”
The 2024 Right to Reproductive Freedom Amendment has meaningfully improved the abortion access and reproductive freedom landscape in Missouri. But the work to secure reproductive freedom is ongoing. Missouri politicians spent decades building up barriers and restrictions designed to block Missourians from exercising their reproductive freedom. It takes time to rebuild reproductive healthcare infrastructure and undo those restrictions. The 2024 Right to Reproductive Freedom Amendment is the most powerful tool we have to secure reproductive freedom, and we must protect our rights from new attacks by politicians.
