Desperate Josh Hawley Claims Missouri Abortion Amendment Would Let Schools Give Gender-Affirming Care to Kids

Missouri is one of 10 states where voters will get to weigh in on abortion in November. Specifically, residents will vote on Amendment 3, which would codify the right to abortion until fetal viability in the state constitution and overturn the state's current abortion ban.

But earlier this month, the virulently anti-abortion Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) tried to claim that the amendment is some kind of Trojan horse for permitting gender-affirming medical care for minors without their parents' permission. Hawley, we must note, is running for re-election against Democratic nominee Lucas Kunce.

At a church's anti-abortion conference on September 7, Hawley lied that Amendment 3 would override existing state restrictions on gender-affirming care for minors, which include bans on puberty blockers, hormones, and gender-affirming surgeries.

According to the Kansas City Star, Hawley argued that, because the amendment says it’s not limited to abortion. “It says it will mandate constitutionally, all reproductive health services, and that includes transgender treatments for minors,” he said.

He added that schools would somehow provide this care, parroting a recent lie from former president Donald Trump. “This is about an effort to come into our schools behind your backs without your knowledge, to tell our kids that there's something wrong with them and to give them drugs that will sterilize them for life, to push them toward procedures that will fundamentally change their bodies irrevocably for life,” Hawley said. “And there will be nothing we can do about it.”

Tori Schafer, an ACLU of Missouri lawyer representing the group behind Amendment 3, told Ozarks Public Radio that Hawley's comments were meant to “distract us from what this amendment is actually about: protecting the right to abortion and letting Missourians make their own health care decisions."

There have been seven statewide abortion votes since the Dobbs decision and the pro-choice position has won every time. In light of that record, conservatives are trying everything to either block the amendments from the ballot or turn public opinion against them. Invoking trans panic is just one strategy, and it's not a new tactic either: Right-wing groups unsuccessfully deployed the talking points in Ohio last year. (That ballot measure passed by a vote of 56% to 43%.)

Current polling shows support for Amendment 3 is at 58%. Sure sounds like Hawley is nervous that it will pass.