KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Missouri Amendment 3 on Tuesday’s ballot would allow abortions up to fetal viability.

A “yes” vote means removing the state’s ban on abortion and restoring access to abortion. Voting “no” would maintain Missouri’s abortion ban.

Roe v Wade overturned

The United States Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June 2022.

The ruling immediately triggered an abortion ban already approved by Missouri lawmakers, which limited abortion at all stages of pregnancy.

In August 2022, Kansas voters approved a law to protect abortion rights.

The women of Missouri, especially Mylissa Farmer of Joplin, had to leave the state to get an abortion.

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“The only way to fix this was to terminate the pregnancy, but they couldn’t do that because the law wasn’t clear enough,” Farmer said.

Doctors told Farmer that her baby would not survive and that she needed an emergency abortion. After trying to get the procedure in Missouri and Kansas, she traveled to Illinois for the procedure.

“Nobody was willing to help us,” Farmer said.

The legal back and forth of Amendment 3

In August 2024, abortion was placed on the November general election ballot.

Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft approved a petition to restore abortion rights after pro-abortion groups gathered thousands of signatures.

Two weeks later, two Missouri lawmakers and an anti-abortion group filed a lawsuit to prevent the issue from being put on the ballot.

A circuit judge in Cole County, Missouri, ruled that the amendment should not appear on the ballot. Ashcroft used the ruling to overturn certification of the abortion ban.

But the state high court overturned this decisionwhich effectively kept the abortion measure – Amendment 3 – on the ballot in Missouri.

The adversaries

KSHB 41 covered different perspectives extensively.

This included a story about Opponents of Amendment 3 who ran across the country and stopped to pray at abortion centers and pregnancy support centers.

“I understand that every situation is different and sometimes it might make sense or there might be pressure to have an abortion, but I truly believe there is a better option,” said Gemma Downey, a student at Benedictine College . “There are so many young people who want to share this message.”

We also heard from Monique Ortega, a Lee’s Summit woman who now counsels women who have had abortions.

Ortega said she regrets the three abortions she had.

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This is why she said she hoped people would vote “no” on Amendment 3.

“I didn’t know about moral responsibility, and so it just led me to make a decision that was right for me,” Ortega said. “I would have liked to keep my child.”

The supporters

Supporters of Amendment 3 emphasize the need for better access.

Kansas added its fourth abortion clinic in Pittsburgh this year to increase access, especially for people traveling out of state.

Women from Kansas, Missouri and at least four other states are using the new facilities.

“We have more patients than we can handle, and we’ve been trying to find a way to meet national needs, because this is a regional problem,” said Emily Wales, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Great Plains.

Some supporters of Amendment 3 organized volunteers to survey certain Kansas City neighborhoods. Among the volunteers were several doctors, including Dr. Devika Maulik, who specializes in high-risk pregnancies.

“This amendment puts decision-making power back in the hands of doctors and families,” she told a constituent.

Missouri is one of ten states where access to abortion is up for a vote.