Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway is speaking up in support of Amendment 3 to save babies from abortions.
Her office is promoting a statewide television and radio message warning women that abortion centers no longer have to meet basic safety standards, as voters prepare to decide whether to restore protections for unborn babies.
The “women’s health PSA” was developed with help from an pro-life medical group and will air through September 30 on more than 350 stations. It was paid for from the attorney general’s Merchandising Practices Revolving Fund, which state law allows to be used for consumer education.
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Hanaway supports Amendment 3, the November ballot measure placed on the ballot by lawmakers. Amendment 3 would repeal the 2024 constitutional change that created a so-called right to abortion and it also would ban abortions except in cases of medical emergency or, in the first 12 weeks, pregnancies resulting from rape or incest.
It would also constitutionally prohibit so-called gender-transition procedures on minors that mutilate their bodies.
“As the chief legal officer for the State of Missouri, the Attorney General’s Office is concerned about the current status of women’s health laws,” said Stephanie Whitaker, a spokesperson for the office. “She believes it is important to provide clear information to Missourians.”
In the video, Dr. Katy Liu, a Missouri family medicine doctor, says: “For years, our laws protected women by requiring clinics to obtain licenses, pass basic health inspections, and have emergency protocols. But Planned Parenthood sued, trying to block safety requirements that protect women. Today, abortion clinics in Missouri are not required to meet the same basic medical standards as other healthcare facilities. Before making any medical decision, ask questions. Make sure your care meets the level of protection every patient deserves.”
The ads followed a June ruling by Jackson County Circuit Judge Jerri Zhang that struck down dozens of pro-life laws as unconstitutional under the 2024 amendment. Hanaway is appealing that ruling.
Pro-life leaders say the court decision and the 2024 amendment left women and unborn children without the licensing, inspection, hospital-privilege and informed-consent rules that once applied and protected women and saved babies.
“This court ruling has literally declared it unconstitutional to enforce laws that protect women and their babies from shoddy and dangerous abortion practices,” said Troy Newman, president of Operation Rescue.
Newman urged every Missourian to vote in favor of Amendment 3.
“Make Missouri abortion-free again!”
Susan Klein, executive director of Missouri Right to Life, said the amendment “will restore protection for women, children and babies in regards to abortion. Parental rights will be restored. Health and Safety for women will be restored.”
Missouri had some of the strongest laws protecting unborn babies in the nation before the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 Dobbs decision triggered a near-total ban.
In 2024, voters narrowly approved an amendment guaranteeing abortion, with about 52% support, after pro-abortion groups spent more than $31.5 million lying to voters about abortion.
This year, former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg donated $1.25 million to Stop the Ban, the PAC opposing Amendment 3. That group has raised more than $6.5 million.
The leading PAC backing the amendment, Her Health, Her Future, has raised just over $1 million and is supported by Gov. Mike Kehoe and First Lady Claudia Kehoe.
