Amendment 3

What is Amendment 3?

Amendment 3 would enshrine the right to abortion and reproductive freedom.

You might recall hearing campaigns to vote on Amendment 3 during the November election in 2024, with a yes vote meaning you would like to overturn the abortion ban, while a no vote meant you would like to uphold the ban. Last year, Amendment 3 (also known as the Right to Reproductive Freedom Initiative) passed with a little over 51% voting yes, but now politicians in Congress are pushing to overturn it by putting it back on the ballot for the 2026 mid-term election.

In 2024, the majority of Missouri voters cast their ballots in support of Amendment 3, and now politicians are trying to undo what the public supports and voted for, in an attempt to ban abortions and access to reproductive healthcare.

Redistricting

For the 2026 mid-term election, Republicans are redistricting the congressional map to boost Republican representation in Congress. This was also supported by President Donald Trump, who called for Missouri to pass this legislation.

What is gerrymandering?

Congressional redistricting is redrawn once every 10 years, but as of this year, Republicans are pushing to redistrict not only Missouri, but also Texas, Florida, and North Carolina, with the hopes that other states will soon follow.

In response, California Governor Gavin Newsom has started attempts to redistrict his state’s map, trying to garner more Democratic representation, as a pushback towards the Republican efforts. Gerrymandering can be defined as “the manipulation of an electoral constituency’s boundaries so as to favor one party or class.” Meaning, a certain group is intentionally changing the district’s representation to solely benefit their party, making it harder for the minority party to have representation in the state.

What the Republicans are doing is purposefully changing the congressional map to favor their party and have more Republican representation in Congress. With this, minorities will not be as fairly represented, and would make it harder for all groups of people to feel like they have a legislator that truly represents what they believe in.

Government Shutdown

As of Oct 30, the government has been shut down for 29 days.

The shutdown began on Oct. 1, as Congress failed to pass funding legislation for 2026. The House of Representatives has been out of session since Sept. 19 with no plans to return.

During this time, federal workers are unpaid, but must continue to work. Unpaid workers include military personnel, law enforcement officers, air traffic controllers, and more are affected. Members of Congress and the President continue to be paid like normal.

How do you end a government shutdown?

In order to reopen the government, the Senate must have a supermajority of 60 votes in favor of the legislation.

Right now, there are 53 Republicans, 45 Democrats, and 2 Independents. This means both parties must work together in a bipartisan manner to reach 60 votes to reopen the government.