Two years ago, abortion opponents in Missouri tried to defeat Amendment 3, a ballot initiative to enshrine reproductive rights in the state constitution, by falsely telling voters that it would allow gender transition surgeries for minors — even though it wouldn’t.
asserted
it → try → minors
Voters approved Amendment 3 anyway, overturning the near-total abortion ban enacted by Missouri’s GOP-dominated legislature that had taken effect after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade in 2022.
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Court → approve → 2022
Now Republican leaders in the state are trying to repeal those rights again, using the same issue.
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leaders → try → issue
They placed a new amendment on the November ballot, also called Amendment 3, that would restore Missouri’s abortion ban while allowing limited exceptions but also constitutionally prohibit gender transition care for minors — though the state has banned surgeries and new prescriptions of puberty blockers and hormones by law since August 2023.
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state → place → August
For the Missouri GOP, Election Day can often seem like Groundhog Day.
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Day → seem → Day
The party holds a supermajority in the legislature and controls every statewide office, yet voters have repeatedly used the initiative petition process to enact policies Republican leaders oppose.
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leaders → hold → policies
By gathering enough signatures, citizens have placed proposals directly on the ballot, then persuaded voters to expand Medicaid, legalize marijuana, raise the minimum wage and restore abortion rights.
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citizens → gather → rights
This month, that disconnect became an electoral humiliation for Republican leaders.
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disconnect → become → leaders
More than 80% of voters rejected their attempt to make it nearly impossible for citizens to amend the state constitution.
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citizens → reject → constitution
It was even worse for Gov. Mike Kehoe’s plan to phase out the state income tax: More than 83% voted no.
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% → phase → tax
Missouri Republicans have become “drunk with power,” said Ken Warren, a professor emeritus of political science at Saint Louis University and associate director of the SLU/YouGov Poll.
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Warren → become → Poll
“Because they control everything, they think they can do what they want — and they can’t.”
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they → control → what
The new Amendment 3 on the November ballot shows how Republicans, using misleading language, a carefully chosen distraction and even a recycled name, are trying to undo one of those defeats.
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Republicans → show → defeats
In 2024, a yes vote on Amendment 3 protected abortion rights.
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vote → protect → rights
In November, voters will again be asked to vote yes on Amendment 3 — this time to take them away.
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voters → ask → them
Republican leaders say voters never intended to approve a nearly unlimited right to abortion.
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voters → say → abortion
They argue that Missourians would prefer an abortion ban with limited exceptions for rape, incest, medical emergencies and fetal anomalies — particularly when it is paired with restrictions on gender transition care for minors.
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it → argue → minors
It would not take much to reverse the 2024 result.
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It → take → result
Abortion rights passed 51.6% to 48.4% — meaning a shift of about 48,000 voters would have defeated the measure.
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shift → pass → measure
Critics call the inclusion of gender care “ballot candy,” a way to make an unpopular proposal easier to swallow.
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proposal → call → care
They say the tactic is especially cynical because it promises voters a prohibition that, in large part, Missouri already has.
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Missouri → say → part
State law already bans gender transition surgery for minors and, through August 2027, bars minors from starting puberty blockers or cross-sex hormones for gender transition.
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law → ban → transition
Amendment 3 would place the restrictions in the state constitution without an expiration date.
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Amendment → place → date
The two provisions bundled together differ enormously in scope.
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provisions → bundle → scope
Repealing reproductive rights would affect the healthcare options available to a state with about 6.3 million people.
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Repealing → repeal → people
The restrictions on gender transition care concern a small number of minors receiving highly specialized treatment.
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restrictions → concern → treatment
Yet supporters want voters focused on the specter of children being used as lab guinea pigs, not the abortion rights the amendment would repeal.
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amendment → want → pigs
A new billboard in the St. Louis suburbs urges them to vote yes and “ban transgender surgeries for minors.
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billboard → urge → minors
A website for the political action committee behind the campaign, Her Health, Her Future — whose treasurer is Missouri first lady Claudia Kehoe — declares “OUR CHILDREN are not LAB EXPERIMENTS.”
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CHILDREN → declare → campaign
It says Amendment 3 would protect children from “harmful, sterilizing medical procedures” and restore “common sense health and safety standards” for women’s health clinics.
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Amendment → say → clinics
Neither message explicitly says that the amendment would repeal the constitutional right to abortion that Missourians approved two years ago.
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Missourians → say → that
Claudia Kehoe did not respond to requests for comment submitted to the governor’s office and the PAC.
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Kehoe → respond → office
In a written endorsement posted on the Her Health, Her Future website, she called the amendment “a critical step toward strengthening our pro-life protections and safeguarding our state’s future.”
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she → write → future
In response to a list of questions that ProPublica submitted to the governor’s office, a spokesperson defended the amendment using much the same language that critics call deceptive.
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critics → submit → language
The spokesperson emphasized protecting children from “sex-change procedures,” safeguarding women and restoring the state’s power to “regulate” abortion providers.
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spokesperson → emphasize → providers
The response did not acknowledge that Amendment 3 would repeal the constitutional reproductive rights Missourians approved in 2024 and replace them with an abortion ban that contains limited exceptions.
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that → acknowledge → exceptions
Polling suggests the strategy could work.
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strategy → suggest → ?
A survey in February of Missouri voters by the SLU/YouGov Poll found that nearly 60% supported legal abortion during the first eight weeks of pregnancy.
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% → find → pregnancy
But 67% opposed gender transition medications for minors, and 73% opposed gender transition surgeries.
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% → oppose → surgeries
Presented with the amendment’s provisions together, voters favored it 47% to 40%.
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voters → present → it
…and 36 more, not listed.
The Aporia
