A loosely defined ballot initiative in Missouri has the potential to reverse the state’s prohibition on transgender medical treatments for minors, as highlighted by a conservative legal organization.
On Election Day, voters in Missouri will cast their ballots on Amendment 3, which is backed by progressive groups and seeks to limit legislative actions concerning “all matters relating to reproductive health care.” Beyond challenging Missouri’s strong pro-life regulations, there are fears that the amendment might undermine parental authority and remove safeguards for children regarding transgender surgeries and hormone therapies.
Mary Catherine Martin, an attorney with the Thomas More Society, expressed to The Daily Wire that “nobody really knows the scope” of the amendment due to the ambiguous messaging from its supporters and the wide-ranging language used throughout the proposal.
The amendment asserts: “The government shall not deny or infringe upon a person’s fundamental right to reproductive freedom, which is the right to make and carry out decisions about all matters relating to reproductive health care, including but not limited to prenatal care, childbirth, postpartum care, birth control, abortion care, miscarriage care, and respectful birthing conditions.”
According to Martin, this vague language suggests that the state’s existing protections against transgender procedures for minors might be invalidated, as the expansive definition of reproductive health care could include methods such as puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, genital surgeries, and mastectomies performed on transgender boys.
“Gender transitions are matters related to reproductive healthcare. There’s really no way to define gender transition if it doesn’t involve the transfer of your reproductive organs, or exchange of your reproductive organs, alteration of your reproductive organs for something else,” she stated. “And if it involves your reproductive organs, according to our federal government, that’s reproductive healthcare.” This comment was in reference to the Department of Health and Human Services’ definition of reproductive health care as encompassing all aspects of an individual’s reproductive health.
To raise awareness about the implications of the initiative, Martin and the Thomas More Society released a “decoder” document that underscores the amendment’s overly broad language.
Missouri law currently prohibits doctors from performing breast removal surgeries on transgender boys and from administering puberty blockers and hormones to children, as these treatments have been associated with various health issues, including heart problems and fertility concerns.
Governor Mike Parson and Senator Josh Hawley, both Republicans from Missouri, have expressed their apprehensions regarding the extensive implications of Amendment 3. “This is about an effort to come into our schools behind your backs without your knowledge, to tell our kids that there’s something wrong with them and to give them drugs that will sterilize them for life, to push them toward procedures that will fundamentally change their bodies irrevocably for life,” Hawley cautioned in September.
Legacy media have labeled these warnings as “fear-mongering” and “highly unlikely.” Nevertheless, Martin highlights that the amendment’s wording offers no constraints on what constitutes “matters relating to reproductive health care.” “There’s literally no argument that all matters relating to reproductive health care does not include the alteration of your reproductive organs,” she told The Daily Wire. “There is nothing in the amendment that narrows that category.”
For the amendment to be adopted, it only requires a simple majority of the votes. The campaign supporting the initiative, known as Missourians for Constitutional Freedom, has gathered nearly $31 million for its efforts, while opponents have raised approximately $3.2 million. Martin emphasized that the amendment encompasses more than just abortion, labeling it “an ACLU Christmas list” that could lead to taxpayer-funded abortions and gender reassignment surgeries, as well as the elimination of single-sex bathrooms, sports teams, and parental consent laws.
