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Kansas City Chiefs owners fund radio ad campaign opposing Missouri abortion amendment
The family business that owns the Kansas City Chiefs is one of the biggest funders of a political action committee opposing a proposed amendment to overturn Missouri’s abortion ban. Unity Hunt, the business that controls the assets of the late Lamar Hunt, including the Chiefs, in late September donated $300,000 to the Leadership for America […]
Planned Parenthood will close 3 Missouri clinics, expand telehealth services
Three Planned Parenthood clinics in eastern and southern Missouri will shut their doors next month, though the organization’s leaders insist the moves will ultimately expand access to reproductive health care. As part of the consolidation effort, Planned Parenthood Great Rivers will be expanding telehealth services and hours at its remaining St. Louis clinics. The moves […]
Missouri Medicaid will cover cost of doula services under new rule
In an effort to address Missouri’s deplorable maternal mortality rates, the state issued an emergency rule Monday allowing doulas to be reimbursed through Medicaid for the next six months. Doulas — who offer support for families during pregnancy, delivery and postpartum, but do not deliver babies — have been lifted up as one solution to […]
Failed GOP attempt to keep abortion off Missouri ballot could foreshadow fight to come
Four lawsuits. Several failed attempts to raise the threshold to pass constitutional amendments. One unprecedented attempt to decertify a ballot measure. Despite this succession of failed GOP efforts to torpedo Amendment 3 over the past 18 months, abortion will remain on Missouri’s Nov. 5 ballot. “What a long strange trip it’s been,” said Michael Wolff, […]
Missouri Supreme Court voted 4-3 to keep abortion on ballot, newly released opinions show
The decision to keep a constitutional amendment legalizing abortion on the November statewide ballot was decided by a narrowly-divided Missouri Supreme Court, according to opinions released Friday. The majority opinion was written by Judge Paul Wilson, with Chief Justice Mary Russell, Judge Robin Ransom and Judge Brent Powell concurring. The dissent was authored by Judge […]
More than 800 Missouri medical professionals sign letter in support of abortion amendment
Dr. Betsy Wickstrom says she’s still lacking clarity on what constitutes a medical emergency under Missouri’s abortion ban, despite the law having been in place for more than two years. In Missouri, health care providers who perform abortions not deemed necessary emergencies can be charged with a class B felony, which means up to 15 […]
Missouri abortion-rights campaign doubles its fundraising total since qualifying for ballot
Missouri’s campaign to legalize abortion has more than doubled its fundraising totals since it was approved for the ballot in mid-August, despite — and perhaps fueled by — a lawsuit that threatened to knock it off the Nov. 5 ballot. Missourians for Constitutional Freedom, the coalition behind what will appear on the ballot as Amendment […]
Missouri Supreme Court rules amendment legalizing abortion will remain on ballot
Missourians will have the opportunity to vote to enshrine abortion in the state constitution this November, the Missouri Supreme Court ruled Tuesday. In a decision published less than three hours before the constitutional deadline to remove a question from the ballot, the Supreme Court reversed a lower court’s ruling that recommended the measure be stripped […]
Missouri Supreme Court faces 5 p.m. deadline to decide if abortion remains on ballot
The Missouri Supreme Court heard arguments Tuesday morning over whether to allow an abortion-rights amendment to remain on the Nov. 5 ballot. The court will decide whether the campaign behind Amendment 3, which would legalize abortion up until the point of fetal viability and protect other reproductive rights, failed to comply with state law when […]
Jay Ashcroft seeks to pull abortion amendment off Missouri ballot weeks after approving it
Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft decertified a ballot measure that would legalize abortion, a move aimed at blocking it from appearing on the November ballot, according to a brief filed Monday with the state Supreme Court. Last month, Ashcroft announced the reproductive-rights proposal would appear on the ballot as Amendment 3. But a Cole […]
Fate of Missouri abortion-rights amendment in hands of state Supreme Court
The Missouri Supreme Court will decide whether abortion-rights will end up on the Nov. 5 ballot after a Cole County judge ruled the proposed amendment violated state law. The case bypassed the court of appeals over the weekend and headed straight to the state’s highest court, which scheduled oral arguments for 8:30 a.m. Tuesday — […]
Missouri judge rules abortion amendment is in ‘blatant violation’ of state requirements
A Missouri judge ruled Friday evening that a reproductive-rights amendment did not comply with state initiative petition requirements, leaving the door open to potentially withhold it from the November ballot. Cole County Circuit Judge Christopher Limbaugh ruled that the coalition behind the citizen-led ballot measure failed to meet the sufficiency requirement through a “failure to […]