Abortion is still legal in Missouri.
Voters on Tuesday rejected Amendment 3, which would have again banned most abortions in the state, with some exceptions.
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The Associated Press made the call with "no" leading with more than 55% of the vote.
It's an affirmation of the decision by Missouri voters in 2024 to end the state's near-total abortion ban. Removing the ban then passed with 51.6% of the vote. At the time, Missouri was the first state to overturn an abortion ban at the ballot box.
Mallory Schwarz, executive director of Abortion Action Missouri, said Amendment 3's failure reveals how Missourians feel about the issue.
"People don't want politicians in their business, in their healthcare decisions," Schwarz said. "They want to be able to make healthcare decisions about abortion and everything by themselves, with their families and with their doctors, not with politicians and lawyers."
Amanda Sanders, communications director for Her Health, Her Future, said Amendment 3 losing is a "devastating loss for women."
"This is a loss for women's health and safety," Sanders said. "This is a loss for children. This is a loss for unborn life."
In addition to prohibiting most abortions, Amendment 3 would have placed within Missouri's constitution a ban on gender-affirming care for transgender minors.
Shira Berkowitz with PROMO Missouri said the amendment's failure means the state "can't use trans kids to take away other people's lives."
"The rhetoric has been too loud and too believable, and it feels so good to know that it's not just, Missourians won't fall for this," Berkowitz said. "They won't. They know better."
The rejection of Amendment 3 is a blow to Republicans who have repeatedly said Missourians didn't know what they were voting for when they overturned the abortion ban in 2024.
The Republican-led legislature voted in 2025 to put the amendment before Missourians. It once again prohibited most abortions but listed more exceptions than the prior ban, which had no exemptions for rape or incest.
Under the new Amendment 3, abortions would have been allowed for rape and incest up to 12 weeks gestation. It also contained exceptions for medical emergencies, ectopic pregnancies and fetal anomalies.
Supporters said with those new exceptions, the new amendment provided a more moderate option for voters. Opponents said the proposal wasn't moderate at all and disrespected the voters who legalized abortion in 2024.
In fact, the new Amendment 3 failed by a larger margin than the vote to legalize abortion in 2024.
"I am so grateful to Missourians who are seeing through the lies and standing up for their votes and their rights," Schwarz said.
While the language of the amendment stated "an abortion may be performed or induced upon a woman in cases of medical emergency, fetal anomaly, rape, or incest," details on how those exceptions would work were not listed.
Those backing Amendment 3 contended the exceptions were enough. Opponents said that they were not practical and that the 12-week limit for instances of rape and incest was too restrictive.
The amendment also would have allowed state legislators to pass laws regulating abortion.
Transgender care
Groups backing the amendment focused numerous ads on banning transgender care for minors.
"For nearly a decade, they have been winning by villainizing people that everyone does know, you just don't need to know who is and who is not trans," Berkowitz said. "And it has created such an uncomfortably dangerous society to live in."
Lawmakers prohibited such care in 2023. The ban on surgeries, which is rare, is permanent within state law. The portion banning other forms of gender-affirming care like puberty blockers and hormone therapy is set to expire in August 2027.
If Amendment 3 passed, those restrictions would have been in Missouri's constitution and would not have expired unless a future amendment removed them.
With the amendment's failure, there is technically now an end date to those restrictions on some gender-affirming care.
Berkowitz said it's "enormous" that those restrictions are not in Missouri's constitution.
A settled issue?
Despite Missourians overturning the state's near-total abortion ban in 2024 and affirming that vote on Tuesday, the fight over abortion access in Missouri isn't over.
"We've seen a nationwide shift to the left," Sanders said. "We still maintained a pretty competitive race. We know Missourians care about life."
She said that despite the amendment's loss, Her Health, Her Future will continue its work.
"This is beyond a vote on an amendment," Sanders said. "This continues on in conversations with your neighbors, and there's many ways to to fight this battle besides at the ballot box, because at the end of the day, this is a moral issue, not a political issue."
Schwarz also said she does not expect the issue to be settled in Missouri.
"They didn't listen to voters last time. I don't expect them to listen to voters this time," Schwarz said. "But Missourians have spoken loud and clear. They want abortion access. They want the right to make their own medical decisions without politicians and lawyers. And I hope these politicians sit up and listen."
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