MAPLEWOOD, Mo. — After Missouri voters added abortion protections to the state constitution in 2024, Kelly McCoomb decided to keep her yard sign supporting the measure in the basement of her suburban St. For stories on the science of healthy living, subscribe to NPR's Health newsletter. Abortion access is important to McCoomb.
She wants her daughter to grow up in a state where the option is available if needed, and the sign was a keepsake from the day Missourians voted to reverse the state's near-total ban. McCoomb also couldn't shake the feeling that she'd need to display the sign in her yard again soon. "I have little faith in our Missouri government," McCoomb said, sitting on her front porch.
Sure enough, just two years later, the state's Republican-dominated legislature is asking Missouri voters to overturn the abortion protections they recently supported. The conflicting measures even have the same title: Amendment 3. But while a "yes" vote in 2024 supported adding protections to the state constitution, a "no" vote in 2026 would keep them.
McCoomb covered the "YES" on her yard sign with a "NO" made from black duct tape before placing the sign back in her yard. Voters will weigh in on abortion in Missouri, and three other states, in the November general election. Missouri is also one of two states voting on it for the second time since 2024.
Nevada will vote again, too. The spate of referenda comes after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned federal abortion protections with its 2022 decision in Dobbs v.
Jackson Women's Health Organization – leaving each state to make its own abortion policy. The result has been a patchwork of state rules with varying degrees of bans or limitations, and even a series of "shield laws" in states where abortion remains legal that aim to protect providers from prosecution in states where it's not. "I just think there's a constitutional crisis that's coming," said Kristi Hamrick, vice president of media and policy for the anti-abortion organization Students for Life Action.
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