Missouri abortion rights campaign raises $3 million as signature-gathering effort begins

A campaign to overturn Missouri’s near-total abortion ban says it’s raised more than $3 million since launching the effort last month as it gathers signatures to force a statewide vote.

The coalition of abortion rights groups, called Missourians for Constitutional Freedom, is backing a measure that would enshrine the right to an abortion in the state constitution but also give lawmakers leeway to regulate the procedure after fetal viability. It announced Friday that it has received some 2,200 individual contributions.

“The outpouring of support that we are seeing from Missourians to join the campaign by volunteering, donating, and staying informed confirms what we already knew – Missourians are ready to fight back against political overreach and end Missouri’s abortion ban,” Mallory Schwarz, the executive director of Abortion Action Missouri, a coalition member, said in a statement.

The campaign has received large contributions from national groups, including $1 million from Sixteen Thirty Fund, a progressive nonprofit based in Washington, D.C., and $500,000 from The Fairness Project, another Washington-based nonprofit.

Some of the funding also includes members of the coalition, including $100,000 from Abortion Action Missouri, $100,000 from the ACLU of Missouri and $75,000 from Planned Parenthood Great Plains.

The abortion rights campaign’s fundraising effort comes as a group seeking to block the campaign, called Missouri Stands with Women, has reported fewer high-dollar donations. The anti-abortion group has reported receiving a little more than $40,000 in contributions over $5,000 since mid-January, including $5,001 from the Missouri Catholic Conference.

Missourians for Constitutional Freedom announced this week that more than 5,000 volunteers have joined the campaign as supporters start the signature-gathering process. The campaign plans to host a series of signature-gathering events on Tuesday in Kansas City, Columbia, Springfield, St. Joseph and St. Louis.

Campaigners and volunteers need to collect more than 170,000 signatures from voters by May 5 to get the proposal on the ballot. The coalition’s fundraising page estimates that signature collections will cost roughly $5 million.

Schwarz said the effort will be “a marathon – not a sprint and the fight for freedom to make our own decisions about our reproductive health care will depend on continued support for this Missouri-grown effort.”