2024 Missouri Amendment 3

2024 Missouri Constitutional Amendment 3, also known as the Right to Reproductive Freedom Initiative, was a constitutional amendment that appeared on the ballot on November 5, 2024. The initiative amended the Constitution of Missouri to legalize abortion in Missouri until fetal viability. On December 23, 2024, the measure amended the Missouri Constitution to provide the right for reproductive freedom, defined as "the right to make and carry out decisions about all matters relating to reproductive health care, including but not limited to prenatal care, childbirth, postpartum care, birth control, abortion, miscarriage care, and respectful birthing conditions." The amendment narrowly passed.

Per NBC News, the amendment received majority support in Boone, Buchanan, Clay, Jackson, Platte, St. Charles, and St. Louis counties, as well as the independent city of St. Louis. These were nearly the same exact counties that had voted for 2020 Missouri Amendment 2 to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, except Buchanan County voted for legal abortion but against Medicaid expansion, while Greene County voted against legal abortion but for Medicaid expansion.

Per the map, the amendment received majority support in Boone County, home to Columbia and the University of Missouri, as well as the Kansas City and Greater St. Louis metropolitan areas along the Missouri River. It was most strongly opposed in the Ozarks in southern Missouri.

Missouri was the first state to enforce its ban after Dobbs was decided. Abortion access was restored in Missouri in February 2025. Specifically, clinics started providing abortions again on February 15, 2025. In May 2025, Missouri lawmakers approved a proposed constitutional amendment that would, if approved by voters in the 2026 elections, reinstate the state's abortion ban with exceptions for rape and incest within 12 weeks of gestational age and enshrine the state’s ban on transgender healthcare for minors in the state constitution.

On June 24, 2022, following the Supreme Court's ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization which overturned Roe v. Wade, Missouri's trigger law banning abortion went into effect, which banned all abortions except to save the life of the pregnant person. On March 8, 2024, the group Missourians for Constitutional Freedom submitted Amendment 3 to the Missouri Secretary of State. On May 3, 2024, they gathered 380,159 signatures to place the amendment on the ballot in November. On August 13, 2024, the secretary of state's office announced 254,871 total valid signatures were submitted for the initiative. Sponsors of the measure hired Advanced Micro Targeting, eQual, MO Political Consulting and MOVE Action to collect signatures for the petition to qualify this measure for the ballot. A total of $4,037,757.84 was spent to collect the 171,592 valid signatures required to put this measure before voters, resulting in a total cost per required signature (CPRS) of $23.53.

During its journey to the ballot, Amendment 3 faced several roadblocks. A bill to increase the threshold required to approve constitutional amendments, including Amendment 3, was narrowly rejected by the Missouri General Assembly. Additionally, a lawsuit to remove Amendment 3 from the ballot was filed, but ultimately rejected by the Supreme Court of Missouri. Lawsuits regarding fair ballot language, cost estimate of amendment, and post-certification removal from the ballot.

Missouri Court Cases Related to 2024 Missouri Constitutional Amendment 3:

- ACLU v. Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft