Missouri abortion rights groups launch first TV ads to halt proposed ban in November

Kacen Bayless, The Kansas City Star on Sep 8, 2026

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A Missouri campaign seeking to halt a measure that would ban nearly all abortions launched its first TV ads on Tuesday opposing the Republican-led effort.

The campaign, called NO on 3, Stop the Ban Missouri, said it would begin airing the ads across the state. The ad launch sets the stage for a high-stakes race that will ultimately decide whether abortion can remain legal in Missouri.

The campaign opposes a proposed constitutional amendment that would strike down a historic 2024 vote that legalized abortion access. The measure will appear on the Nov. 3 ballot as Amendment 3, sharing the same name as the abortion rights measure that nearly 52% of voters approved in 2024.

The first ad, which the campaign titled “Ashley,” features a woman who talks about how she needed an abortion to save her life. The video emphasizes that Amendment 3 would ban abortions.

“I faced a dangerous pregnancy complication and I needed abortion care to save my life, and now politicians in Missouri are trying to take that right away from us,” the woman in the ad says.

The second ad, titled “Reasons,” lays out three reasons why Missourians should vote against the amendment. It states that the measure marks the second time Missouri is voting on abortion, says that Amendment 3 “overturns the will of the people” and argues that the amendment would put “lawyers and politicians in charge of health care decisions.”

Tom Bastian, a spokesperson for the campaign, did not share how much money the campaign spent on the ads, but cast it as a seven-figure ad buy.

Inside the campaign

The upcoming statewide vote marks another salvo in Missouri’s years-long fight over abortion access. Republican state lawmakers placed the measure on the ballot in a retaliatory response to the 2024 vote, which enshrined the right to an abortion in the Missouri Constitution and overturned a previous ban.

The new proposed constitutional amendment would completely strike down the language of the 2024 abortion rights amendment and allow abortions in only a few rare instances.

In a move intended to draw in more voters, the measure also purports to ban gender-affirming care for minors, even though that health care is already illegal under state law.

The ballot measure faces sharp criticism for tying abortion rights to transgender health care and critics have framed the question as an attempt to confuse voters into banning access to abortion.

The campaign opposing the new amendment is largely made up of the same groups that pushed to legalize abortion in 2024, including Abortion Action Missouri, the ACLU of Missouri and the Planned Parenthood affiliates in Kansas City and St. Louis.

Meanwhile, a group called Her Health, Her Future PAC is campaigning in favor of the amendment. The PAC’s messaging has almost entirely sidestepped the issue of abortion and has largely focused on the anti-transgender language attached to the measure.

The group’s social media page purports to “end sex change surgeries for minors, protect children, and build a safer future for Missouri families.” First Lady Claudia Kehoe is the PAC’s treasurer.