The politics of deception are looming large in November’s election. Will voters again, as they did in August, stop a power grab that takes power from individuals and gives it to politicians?
Missourians in August resoundingly rejected Amendment 4, an attempt by the Legislature to remove Missourians’ ability to initiate and pass changes to our Constitution. Missouri voters also saw through the Legislature’s well-funded attempt in Amendment 5 to change the state Constitution to let politicians in Jefferson City switch out income taxes (paid mostly by the affluent) to sales taxes (paid by all of us), which would have weighed most heavily on those who live paycheck to paycheck.
But the fight over who decides our future — the people or politicians — is not over.
In 2024, most Missouri voters decided that certain very personal decisions were none of the government’s business. As a result, the Missouri Constitution now contains in its Bill of Rights a provision that keeps politicians out of decisions around pregnancy and abortion and makes sure those decisions can be made by women with their doctors and their families.
The voter-enacted constitutional “Right to Reproductive Freedom Initiative” also protects decisions about birth control, prenatal care, childbirth, postpartum care and miscarriage care from government interference. It also protects respectful birthing conditions and doctors and other health care providers who render care within the scope of their licenses.
Now, through a new — but definitely not improved — Amendment 3 on the November ballot, the Missouri Legislature is asking voters to repeal the Right to Reproductive Freedom Initiative and impose a new abortion ban, essentially reviving Missouri’s prior abortion ban.
How do politicians get voters to change their minds? Answer: Try to trick them.
The first trick: The new Amendment 3 includes a ban on gender transition medical care for minors. But an informed voter might ask, “Isn’t that type of care already banned? Hasn’t the law banning gender transition care for minors already been upheld by the Supreme Court of Missouri?” Yes and yes.
Furthermore, that type of care will remain banned regardless of the outcome of this election. But the average voter probably doesn’t know that, so a “transgender ban” polls well, and the campaign against reproductive health rights (which has nothing to do with gender transition care) focuses on transgender care for minors. That’s a distraction from Amendment 3’s real purpose, which is to repeal the previous constitutional amendment protecting reproductive decisions from undue state interference.
The other trick: When the Legislature approved Amendment 3 for the ballot, the actual wording of the proposed constitutional amendment would ban abortion in nearly all cases and allow politicians to flesh out the details of how the ban is refined and enforced. How did the Legislature’s proposed ballot wording describe this ban? Here is what lawmakers wrote: “Ensure women’s safety during abortions.” Did the Legislature mention that new Amendment 3 would reinstate a ban on most abortions or that it would repeal the Reproductive Rights Initiative the voters approved in 2024? No, it did not.
But the courts did. Because of a lawsuit, the voters will see ballot wording that correctly says that Amendment 3 would “Repeal the 2024 voter-approved Amendment providing reproductive healthcare rights, including abortion through fetal viability.”
This year’s Amendment 3, in the Legislature’s words, “Allows legislation regulating abortion.” That would restore various unnecessary restrictions placed on women’s health care that were struck down after the 2024 amendment passed. The politicians already have tipped their hand and shown voters laws they would like to impose on us, in addition to the restrictions that would be revived. For example, in 2026, a House bill was introduced that would acknowledge the Legislature’s intent, among several extreme outcomes, to “abolish abortion in this state.” This would include making abortion a crime of murder, which can carry the death penalty in Missouri.
Currently, Missourians are protected from politicians’ extreme attempts to ban abortion, birth control and other necessary medical care because a majority of the state’s voters approved the Right to Reproductive Freedom Initiative in 2024. Despite opposition from a majority of the state’s politicians, voters placed those rights in the Missouri Constitution’s Bill of Rights.
In August, Missourians overwhelmingly rejected the same politicians’ attempt to gut our constitutional right to direct democracy. I understand that some voters find it tiresome to have to keep saying no to bad ideas from Jefferson City, especially when they have to take a second look to figure out what the politicians are trying to sell us.
Yes, we did vote just two years ago to protect the fundamental right to reproductive freedom. And now, we need to vote again to protect that constitutional right, stop a new abortion ban and keep private medical decisions with women and their doctors and health care providers. This year, to protect the rights we secured in 2024, a NO vote is needed on Amendment 3.
Michael A. Wolff is a retired judge, former chief justice of the Missouri Supreme Court and former dean of Saint Louis University School of Law.