New Missouri nonprofit pours $2.9 million into campaign to reinstate abortion ban

A new Missouri-based nonprofit has dropped $2.9 million into a campaign hoping to reinstate an abortion ban. 

Her Health Her Future Missouri was incorporated in September and is now the top donor to Her Health, Her Future PAC, the campaign aimed at passing Amendment 3. If approved by a majority of voters, it would overturn the state’s 2024 reproductive-rights amendment.

The donations doubled the total amount of money the campaign had on hand as of Thursday, according to disclosure reports filed with the Missouri Ethics Commission. The campaign has raised $5.3 million since launching last year.

As a nonprofit, Her Health Her Future is not legally required to disclose its donors. Among its leadership are veterans of Missouri Republican politics, including Edward Greim, a partner at the Kansas City law firm Graves Garrett Greim; Michael Hafner, a longtime GOP consultant; and James Lawson, who is on a leave of absence from the Missouri Attorney General’s Office to serve as campaign adviser for Her Health Her Future PAC. 

Lawson said the nonprofit was formed to protect Missouri donors who wanted to give to the anti-abortion campaign “without putting a target on their backs.” 

Leaders with both campaigns have recounted instances of threats and harassment over their stances on abortion.

Lawson said “99%” of funding across the nonprofit and the PAC is from Missourians, noting that opponents of Amendment 3 have accepted millions from out-of-state nonprofits that also don’t disclose their donors.

“The real concern is outside money attempting to influence Missouri’s constitution,” Lawson said. 

Transgender care takes center stage in Missouri campaign to reinstate abortion ban

As of Thursday, Stop the Ban, the campaign pushing to defeat Amendment 3, has raised more than $25.7 million. A spokesperson with the campaign did not respond to a request for comment by time of publishing.

The Fairness Project, a D.C.-based nonprofit that backs progressive ballot measures around the country, has given nearly $12 million to Stop the Ban, whose leadership has pushed back on critics of its donors, saying The Fairness Project plays a supporting role to campaign efforts led by Missourians on the ground, including the local Planned Parenthood affiliates, Abortion Action Missouri, the ACLU of Missouri, PROMO and Beacon Reproductive Health Network. The Fairness Project is the only out-of-state group that sits on Stop the Ban’s executive committee. 

Alyssa Bowen, deputy executive director of True North Research, a progressive government accountability group not affiliated with either campaign, said because Her Health Her Future Missouri isn’t required to disclose its donors, it’s not possible for voters to know whether out-of-state anti-abortion voices end up throwing their money at Missouri. 

“These anti-abortion networks might be trying to position themselves as underdogs because of how much money the pro-choice side is spending on the issue, but that’s not an accurate depiction,” Bowen said.

Bowen, who supports abortion rights, noted there are far fewer donors to the anti-abortion campaign.

While the majority of Stop the Ban’s funding comes from out-of-state donors, thousands of Missourians have given small donations — any amount under $5,000 — to the cause. Nearly all of the reported donors to Her Health Her Future, are Missourians, but there are far fewer total donors.

In 2024, Missouri’s abortion rights campaign raised more than $30 million, handily outspending a hodgepodge of anti-abortion campaign efforts. Ultimately, the abortion-rights measure won with 51.6% of the vote.

Amendment 3 would repeal the 2024 reproductive rights amendment and reinstate an abortion ban with exceptions for fetal anomalies, medical emergencies and rape and incest in the first trimester. It would also enact a constitutional ban on gender-affirming care for minors. Missouri law bars minors from surgery, and from beginning hormones or puberty blockers; the latter law is set to expire in August 2027 at which point lawmakers could decide whether to extend it.

Lawson said Her Health Her Future Missouri was established to exist beyond the election, with the goal of educating Missourians on abortion and advocating for women and children.

Missouri Right to Life PAC is also campaigning for Amendment 3. So far the group has raised at least $800,000. 

On Tuesday, former Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey, who recently stepped down from his post as co-deputy director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, filed for the creation of a PAC called Vote Yes on Amendment 3. No donations have yet been reported, but the PAC had already started purchasing broadcast ads as of Friday.

Less than three weeks out from the election, Stop the Ban had purchased more than half the broadcast air time among all ballot measure campaigns.

As of Thursday, Stop the Ban has spent about $5.9 million on TV and radio ads running in markets across Missouri’s top markets, including Kansas City, St. Louis, Springfield and Columbia. Her Health, Her Future has spent about $1.2 million.