Abortion rights advocates celebrate rejection of Amendment 3
ST. LOUIS (KMIZ)
Amendment 3 failed in Missouri and voters who wanted “no on 3” are excited about the results.
The coalition Stop The Ban has been campaigning for no votes on Amendment 3 and at the watch party hosted by them, the entire room was filled with cheers when the announcement was made that no votes won.
“Missouri made history tonight,” Tori Schafer executive member with Stop the Ban said. “Missouri was the first state in the entire country to have to defend the right to reproductive freedom the very next cycle after we passed it.”
Amendment 3 if approved, would have repealed the constitutional ‘right to reproductive freedom‘ that was put into place in 2024, and ban gender transition procedures for minors.
Under the proposed amendment, abortion would have to be allowed only in cases of medical emergency or fetal anomaly. Abortion would have been allowed only in cases of rape or incest up to 12 weeks of pregnancy. The amendment would have required written consent from a minor and a parent or legal guardian before an abortion, except in the case of a medical emergency when consent cannot be obtained.
For minors, the amendment would have prohibited gender-transition surgeries and the use of hormones or puberty-blocking drugs for the purpose of gender transitions.
Throughout the night, the numbers on the amendment were very close, and even having a tie halfway through the votes.
Mallory Schwarz, a spokesperson for Stop the Ban, said that she was confident that Missouri voters would defend their vote from back in 2024.
“Last time we won by 51 points and I knew that we were going to get that majority,” Schwarz said. “I am so proud of Missourians for standing up to bullies and making sure that their rights and their voices are protected.”
In the end, the votes came out to be 1,173,172 votes cast against Amendment 3 and 941,065 votes for it.
“You heard it this evening from our hooting and hollering, but we have a lot of folks that put a lot of time to build this incredible coalition,” Schafer said.
Groups like the League of Women Voters in St. Louis endorsed Stop the Ban, showing their support for keeping the same reproductive rights in place that were established in 2024.
Schwarz said that she believes that people will continue to repeal abortion rights and that Stop the Ban will continue to fight for reproductive rights and minor gender transition rights.
“We are going to see continued attacks on our trans siblings and trans communities, and I think we’re going to stand together and fight against those attacks because it’s the same issue,” Schwarz said.
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