Sadly, the overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022 revealed how woefully unprepared the pro-life movement was to engage and win at the state level. Decades of focus on advocacy at the federal level left the movement flat-footed and unequipped for the post-Roe landscape. While conservatives celebrated the Dobbs decision and disengaged, progressive activists got to work enacting their social policies in state capitols across the United States.

Missouri represents the first real chance for the pro-life movement, and social conservatism writ large, to find its footing in the post-Roe world. A victory in Missouri would show pro-family activists and donors in states like Kansas and Ohio that radical progressive amendments can be repealed and replaced. Polling shows that over 70% of Americans oppose transgender surgeries for minors, and approximately the same amount oppose late-term abortion. Missouri now stands as Ground Zero in the fight to protect the unborn and safeguard minors from irreversible harm.

In the coming months, Missourians will vote on a proposed constitutional amendment to protect the unborn and ban transgender surgeries for minors. If Amendment 3 passes, it will be a watershed moment for the pro-family movement and provide a roadmap for other states across the country.

In 2024, Missouri passed a constitutional amendment to guarantee nearly unlimited access to abortion in a state that Donald Trump won by almost 18%. Not only that, but the amendment expressly prohibited the government from interfering with any “reproductive health care,” opening a Pandora’s box to nightmares such as transgender surgeries and puberty blockers for minors without the consent of their parents.

The risks that the procedures pose to minors are well-documented. According to a peer-reviewed study released by the Department of HHS: “The risks of pediatric medical transition include infertility/sterility, sexual dysfunction, impaired bone density accrual, adverse cognitive impacts, cardiovascular disease and metabolic disorders, psychiatric disorders, surgical complications, and regret.” Even the American Society of Plastic Surgeons recommends that “surgeons delay gender-related breast/chest, genital, and facial surgery until a patient is at least 19 years old.”

Due to several factors, including misleading ballot language, disjointed opposition, and fundraising disparities, the amendment narrowly passed the required 50% threshold with 51.6% of the vote. Almost overnight, one of the most conservative states in the union suddenly looked more like California or New York.

Amendment 3 would repeal the destructive 2024 law and replace it with constitutional protections for the unborn, and explicitly ban transgender surgeries and puberty blockers for minors. If the amendment passes, Missouri will become the first state in the union to repeal a pro-abortion constitutional amendment and the first state to constitutionally ban transgender surgeries and puberty blockers for minors.

Recognizing the importance of protecting Missouri’s women and children, groups such as the Her Health Her Future PAC have worked diligently to set the record straight on the dangers of the 2024 amendment and replace it with protections for mothers, minors, and babies. With the full backing of Missouri Governor Mike Kehoe and First Lady Claudia Kehoe, who serves as the organization’s treasurer, the group has seen early success in its efforts. According to a February poll by St. Louis University and YouGov, a plurality of Missouri voters (47%) support the new Amendment 3, while 40% oppose it.

A victory in Missouri would provide a much-needed roadmap for other conservative states that have seen progressive activists rewrite and reinterpret their state constitutions. In 2022, Kansas affirmed the state supreme court’s determination that the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness includes the right to abortion. Similarly, in 2023, Ohio voters approved an amendment to create a right to abortion in the state constitution. These are states that Donald Trump won in 2024 by 16% and 11%, respectively.

A victory for Amendment 3 would not only reverse a radical mistake but energize the pro-family movement across the heartland and beyond.

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Dan Harre serves as the community engagement manager for Coalition Life, a St. Louis-based nonprofit dedicated to ending abortion in the U.S. peacefully and prayerfully.

Michael Hafner serves as general consultant to Her Health, Her Future PAC, and is president of Parabellum Strategies, a Missouri-based political consulting firm specializing in campaign management, issue advocacy, and strategic communications.

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The Show Me State Could Set A Pro-Life, Pro-Kids Precedent For The Nation