Clarifying Amendment 3

There has been a lot of misinformation put out there about Amendment 3, a measure that I personally support, and I wanted to attempt to clear up some of the confusion.

Amendment 3 is very clear that none of the funding can go to agencies that provide abortion services. Amendment 3 will improve the lives of Missouri’s youngest children, not directed to hurting children.

Amendment 3 funding cannot be misdirected to other purposes! Funding must be allocated to early childhood education and healthcare programs, as well as smoking cessation. This language will be placed in our Constitution and the legislature can not change where the funding goes without explicitly violating the Constitution, and any attempt to do that would swiftly be reversed by the courts.

Amendment 3 also provides a drastic increase in funding for smoking cessation programs, offering mothers the help they need to quit smoking and focus on their health and their children’s health.

Doug Austin, Cape Girardeau