‘All eyes are on Missouri’: Governor Kehoe, pro-life advocates say vote yes on Amend 3 

Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe joined pro-life advocates in a final rally around the state for Missouri’s Amendment 3 on the eve of the midterm elections.

“Amendment 3 saves lives, it protects women and provides a future for families,” Director of Campaign Life Missouri Deacon Sam Lee said at a stop in Kansas City, highlighting that the Catholic Church is “100% in favor” of the measure.

Kehoe, Missouri Rep. Mark Alford, detransitioner Chloe Cole and others traveled to St. Louis, Kansas City, Springfield and Jefferson City Monday to encourage Missourians to vote “yes” on Amendment 3 – a measure that would ban sex change surgeries for children and restrict abortion once again.

Currently in Missouri, abortion is legal up until viability, even though the state used to have “some of the best, if not the best” pro-life laws in the nation, Kehoe said. The former abortion ban was lifted in 2024 after a ballot initiative passed that included heavy spending by proponents.

Despite a spending difference of nearly seven to one, Kehoe explained, the 2024 abortion amendment received less than 52% of the vote.

“It’s really about the legacy of the unborn children and the children who are born,” the Republican said about Amendment 3. “It’s not about me, it’s really about the future of them, and that’s 100% the way I look at this. … Passing Amendment 3 is more than just a legacy.”

Christians have banded together in a way Kehoe says he has never seen before to protect the unborn and pass the amendment.

“I’ve never seen the Christian organizations coalesce around an issue like I have on this,” he marveled. “Not just the Catholic Church, it’s the Assemblies of God. It’s the Baptist Convention. It’s Episcopalians. It’s folks that just have all come together to say how important this is.”

Why Amendment 3 matters 

Melissa Ohden, founder and CEO of the Abortion Survivors Network, said her mother, a 19-year-old college student at the time, attempted to have a saline abortion when doctors estimated she was between 18 and 20 weeks pregnant. However, specialists later confirmed that Ohden was likely around 31 weeks’ gestation.

“For five days, I choked in that toxic salt solution intended to poison and [cause] death,” Ohden said at the rally.

Ohden was delivered weighing 2 pounds, 14 ounces, with severe respiratory and liver problems, along with seizures. Her grandmother, who had been the one to pressure her mother into the abortion in the first place, demanded that she be left to die.

Nevertheless, Ohden was rushed to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) and survived. Her mother was led to believe the abortion was successful and didn’t know her daughter had survived until 30 years later.

“Our story seems dramatic, but it’s far from unique,” Ohden explained.

“So here’s the question: What protects a child like me in Missouri today? I was 31 weeks gestation. Today in Missouri, an abortion at that stage can still be legal.”

Ohden explained that even after a baby reaches viability, an abortion can happen at any time during pregnancy if one doctor deems it necessary for the mother’s physical or mental health, and a second opinion is not required.

Amendment 3 would allow lawmakers to place safety measures on abortion providers and would limit late-term abortions once again, Ohden said.

“Amendment 3 is not extreme, it’s common sense, and I urge the voters of Missouri to vote ‘yes’ on Amendment 3,” she declared.

Kehoe added that voting yes on Amendment 3 is Missouri’s chance to “prove who we really are.”

(Photo credit: Kaylee Obisesan)