Missouri Appeals Court Orders Clearer Ballot Language for 2026 Abortion Amendment

Appeals Panel Requires Explicit Wording That Measure Would Repeal 2024 Reproductive Rights Amendment

An appeals court in Jefferson City on Thursday ordered new, clearer ballot language for a proposed Missouri constitutional amendment that would roll back abortion access, saying voters must be explicitly told the measure would repeal the "reproductive healthcare rights" they approved just one year earlier.

The decision adds a new chapter to Missouri's ongoing legal and political battle over abortion access since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022. That ruling allowed a previously dormant state law banning most abortions to take effect, prompting abortion-rights supporters to place a referendum on the 2024 ballot that narrowly restored broader access.

In response, the Republican-led Missouri Legislature placed a different amendment on the 2026 ballot. The 2026 proposal would repeal the 2024 amendment and sharply limit abortion to cases of medical emergency or fetal anomaly, or to pregnancies resulting from rape or incest up to 12 weeks. It would also include a ban on gender-transition treatments for minors, a restriction that is already prohibited under current state law.

Earlier this year a state trial judge struck down the ballot summary initially drafted by Republican lawmakers as insufficient and unfair. The judge later approved revised language submitted by Republican Secretary of State Denny Hoskins. But the appeals court concluded Thursday that Hoskins' summary "falsely implies" the amendment would create new guarantees of access to certain reproductive health care.

The appeals panel imposed new ballot wording that explicitly states the measure would:

"Repeal the 2024 voter-approved Amendment providing reproductive healthcare rights, including abortion through fetal viability."

The panel's summary also lists the limited circumstances in which abortions would still be permitted under the proposed 2026 amendment.

Secretary Hoskins' office declined to comment on the appeals court's ruling. Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway, whose office defended the Legislature's proposal, said she disagrees with the decision to revise the summary but welcomed the court's refusal to remove the measure from the ballot.

"The Court has cleared the way for the people, not partisan litigants, to decide the future of health and safety for women and children in Missouri," Hanaway said in a statement.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Missouri, which helped bring the lawsuit challenging earlier summaries, said the appeals court's required wording better informs voters of the amendment's potential impact. "It is crucial that Missourians know they are being asked to end the protections for reproductive health care that we just passed in the last general election," said Tori Schafer, director of policy and campaigns at the ACLU of Missouri.

Nationally, abortion-rights advocates had mixed results in the November 2024 elections, prevailing on seven ballot measures and falling short on three. Separate abortion-rights amendments are already scheduled to appear on Nevada's ballot next year and could appear in Virginia as well.