Abortion opponents claim fight is not over after Amendment 3 fails
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
Anti-abortion supporters claim the fight is not over in Missouri even, after Amendment 3 failed in the 2026 midterms.
“We’re disappointed in the outcome tonight, we’re still watching the numbers, we know that the other side has spent $30 million to destroy the lives of children and babies in the state of Missouri,” Missouri Right to Life Executive Director Susan Klein said. “We performed better than the rest of the nation and we will continue to fight.”
Klein was one of several groups at a “Yes on 3” Election Night watch party hosted by Her Health, Her Future, in Columbia Tuesday. Yes on 3 Political Director Tom Estees added that all those involved in the campaign should be proud.
“We came up short today but this is a battle in a war, so we are going to keep on going forever,” Estees said.
Amendment 3, if it passsed, would have enacted a general abortion ban in the state with exceptions for medical emergencies, fetal anomalies, and rape or incest through 12 weeks of pregnancy. It would also require parental consent for minors’ abortions. Gender-transition procedures for minors will also be banned. Gender-affirming surgery is illegal for minors in the state of Missouri. However, a current ban on hormone therapy and puberty blockers is set to expire in 2027.
The group said next steps will be following the rest of the Midterm results and finding new opportunities for anti-abortion support, adding that they will not be swayed by Tuesday’s results.
“The fight to protect children doesn’t just end with the legislature or with laws, it also happens on the streets, it happens with our families, our communities, the people around us,” Her Health, Her Future campaign manager James Lawson said. “You saw an unbelievable shift to the left nationally in the overall climate and I think that that obviously had an impact on this particular race.”
Voters overturned an abortion ban in 2024 with another constitutional amendment that was also named “Amendment 3.” Months of court deliberation followed, with varying levels of abortion access resuming and pausing several times. Jackson County Circuit Court judge Jerri Zhang ultimately blocked the Missouri Supreme Court in 2025 and ruled in favor of Planned Parenthood after a weeks-long trial in June 2026, opening up appointments for medical abortions
During the trial, Planned Parenthood argued that the current state regulations were unreasonable and difficult to achieve, and unfairly unique to Missouri abortion clinics only. The state argued that Missouri laws were in place to protect patients’ physical and mental health and safety.
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