2024 election: Trump wins second term as president: NPR

Missourians and pro-choice advocates react to a speaker during the Missourians for Constitutional Freedom kick-off petition drive in February.

Ed Zurga/AP

hide caption

change caption

Ed Zurga/AP

This story originally appeared as part of NPR’s live coverage of the 2024 election. For more election coverage from the NPR Network go to our live updates page.

ST. LOUIS – Missourians voted to legalize abortion until fetal viability, overturning the state’s current ban on nearly all abortions, according to an Associated Press call.

The amendment enshrines abortion rights in the Constitution over the objections of the heavily Republican state leadership.

Missouri was the first state to ban abortion—even in cases of rape and only with the exception of medical emergencies—after Roe v. Wade’s fall in 2022. Then abortion rights advocates collected hundreds of thousands of signatures for a vote on the amendment to legalize abortion up to fetal viability, which is around 24 weeks.

While Missouri has become a much more Republican state in the last decade, the passage of the amendment was not a surprise. That was partly a reaction to the state’s current law. A campaign committee backing the amendment raised tens of millions of dollars — and enlisted thousands of volunteers to knock on doors and make phone calls.

Missouri is one of 10 states voting on abortion rights this election.

More: Missouri election results

Support for the measure was particularly strong in suburbs of the state. St. Louis County resident Cindy Clark, interviewed in the lead-up to the vote, said the amendment eclipsed the presidential race by driving her to the polls.

“I grew up in a more conservative household and that’s where my Republican views came from, but we’re always told that Republicans are the party of limited government,” Clark said. “Well, why are they now invading our doctors’ offices, invading our classrooms, invading all these nuances of our lives? It’s not limited government. To me, it’s government control.”

Opponents of Amendment 3 argued that it would be better for the legislature to make changes to Missouri’s strict abortion laws. They also argued that the long-held amendment would allow transgender care for minors, which legal experts and supporters argued was a scare tactic that misrepresents what the proposal actually does.

Jason Rosenbaum covers politics for St. Louis Public Radio.