Fundraising off to slow start in fight over Missouri abortion amendment

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- What's expected to be an expensive and bitter fight over multiple Missouri abortion-rights ballot measures so far has not attracted much money.

An abortion-rights campaign called Missourians for Constitutional Freedom had no money on hand as of Dec. 31, according to campaign finance reports filed Tuesday. The group received $25,000 in nonmonetary aid from the American Civil Liberties Union last year.

The campaign has not yet announced which of 11 versions of its proposal it intends to push forward. Some versions would allow the Republican-led Legislature to regulate abortion after fetal viability, a divisive issue among abortion-rights activists.

A competing Republican-backed campaign raised roughly $61,000, most of which came from a $50,000 donation from Director Jamie Corley. Her proposal would allow abortions up to 12 weeks into pregnancy, and in cases of rape, incest or to protect the life of the mother, until fetal viability.

It typically costs millions of dollars just to pay workers to collect enough voter signatures to get a constitutional amendment on the Missouri ballot. Campaigns have until May to collect more than 170,000 signatures to get on the November ballot.

In Ohio, a successful 2023 initiative guaranteeing abortion rights cost a combined $70 million. Ohioans United for Reproductive Rights, the campaign in favor of the initiative, raised and spent more than $39.5 million to pass the constitutional amendment. Protect Women Ohio, the campaign against it, raised and spent about $30.4 million.

Meanwhile, an anti-abortion group called Missouri Stands with Women launched its own campaign Tuesday to block any abortion-rights measure from passing. Because the campaign was formed Tuesday, no fundraising has been reported yet.