Amendment 3, which will enshrine a woman’s right to an abortion up until fetal viability in the Missouri Constitution, passed with margins of 51.6% to 48.4% on Nov. 5. The amendment, which also protects access to reproductive healthcare like birth control and prenatal care, will go into effect in 30 days. 

As college students, we need to understand and talk about how abortion bans affect us and our close communities. As human beings, we need to understand, discuss, and feel outraged about abortion bans for what they are — a public-health crisis.

Ahead of the 2024 election in Missouri, Washington University students and members of the St. Louis community are collecting signatures to get a pro-abortion amendment to the Missouri constitution on the ballot.

WashU’s chapter of Planned Parenthood Generation Action (PPGA) has made it their mission to serve as the resource hub for all students looking to gain access to contraceptives and navigate the barriers of Missouri’s abortion laws. 

Chancellor Martin: even if you don’t have all the answers, we deserve to know that you recognize this ruling not as a topic for debate but as a catalyst for immediate action.

On May 6, members of the Washington University community gathered in Brookings Quad to protest the draft leaked by the Supreme Court suggesting that the court could be planning to overturn Roe v. Wade. The motivation behind the rally was to “call on the University to take a stand in support of abortion rights and against Missouri’s trigger ban.” 

“From a pretty young age, I was exposed to the idea that it’s important to speak up for issues that are affecting the world,” Luna said. 

With talk of female reproductive rights in Congress and the Supreme Court, women everywhere have shared their fear of losing access to mandatory family planning and reproductive resources.

In recent weeks, it has been brought to the public’s attention that Williams has been keeping a spreadsheet tracking the menstrual periods of woman who have attended Planned Parenthood for abortion services.

Over the next 8 weeks, the Forum section will be profiling the most pressing economic, political and social issues of the 2016 presidential race. We will examine the views of the top three candidates: Hillary Clinton, Gary Johnson and Donald Trump—to give students an inside view on who and what we will be voting for (or against) in the upcoming election.