Fundraising off to slow start in fight over Missouri abortion amendment

COLUMBIA, Monday — What will be an expensive and bitter battle so far over multiple abortion rights ballot measures in Missouri has not raised much money.

An abortion rights campaign called Missourians for Constitutional Freedom ran out of money on hand as of Dec. 31, according to campaign finance reports filed Tuesday. The group received $25,000 in non-monetary aid from the American Civil Liberties Union last year.

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

A competing Republican-backed campaign raised about $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 the viability of the fetus.

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

In Ohio, a successful 2023 initiative guaranteeing abortion rights cost a total of $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, has raised and spent about $30.4 million.

Meanwhile, an anti-abortion group called Missouri Stands with Women launched its own campaign Tuesday to prevent abortion rights measures from passing. Because the campaign started on Tuesday, no fundraising has been reported yet.