Missouri Voters to Decide Amendment 3 on November 3: Measure Would Repeal the 2024 Abortion-Rights Amendment
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Missouri voters will decide Amendment 3 on November 3, a proposed constitutional amendment that would repeal the abortion rights voters wrote into the state constitution in 2024 and instead outlaw abortion except in specified cases. Missouri Southern Baptists are campaigning heavily for voters to approve the measure.
Missouri's abortion law has swung back and forth in recent years. Abortion was legal until fetal viability before the U.S. Supreme Court reversed Roe v. Wade; immediately after the high court's action, a legislatively approved ban took effect and abortion became illegal. That was short-lived: in 2024 voters narrowly approved a ballot initiative enshrining abortion rights in the state constitution, and current law allows abortions until fetal viability, generally reached at 23 or 24 weeks of pregnancy.
As titled, Amendment 3 would repeal the 2024 voter-approved amendment providing reproductive healthcare rights, including abortion through fetal viability; allow abortions for rape and incest (under 12 weeks' gestation), emergencies and fetal anomalies; allow legislation regulating abortion; ensure parental consent for minors' abortions; and prohibit gender transition procedures for minors.
Missouri Baptist Convention Executive Director Wes Fowler has widely advocated for the amendment ahead of the vote, appearing on an Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission podcast and writing an editorial in the MBC news journal The Pathway. Messengers to the 2026 MBC annual meeting earlier this week passed a resolution voicing support for Amendment 3 and vowing to continue reaching out through Missouri Southern Baptist churches to women and families in need. "I'm the first to admit that Amendment 3 doesn't go far enough — it allows exceptions for incest, rape, and fetal anomalies — but it's so much better than what we have now," Fowler wrote on October 13. The Missouri Baptist Christian Life Commission also produced an explanatory brochure urging voters to approve the amendment.
Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe and his wife Claudia, Roman Catholics, also support the amendment. In a letter posted on October 27, the two urged people of faith to encourage their congregations to vote yes on Amendment 3 on November 3.
(Source: Baptist Press)
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：位于 Jefferson City 的密苏里州议会大厦北侧。Katherine Dowler 摄，CC BY-SA 授权，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Photo: The Missouri State Capitol in Jefferson City, north side. Photo by Katherine Dowler, CC BY-SA, via Wikimedia Commons.
