Star Politics: Misleading abortion ban vote + More political abuse in MO?

Editor’s note: The following is from today’s Star Politics newsletter, published weekly on Wednesdays. You can sign up here.

Hello, Star readers,

Today, we’re taking a closer look at why next year’s Missouri abortion ban vote carefully omits the most important word.

Next, we’ll get into:

• ‘Quietly dismantled’: The Missouri Ethics Commission doesn’t investigate complaints, issue fines or hold meetings anymore — and these two top Republicans are to blame, a new report says.

• No end in sight: Kansas lawmakers’ latest maneuver escalated the fierce border war over where the Kansas City Chiefs and Royals should build their future.

This week in politics

Despite Missourians’ vote last November to enshrine abortion access, reproductive rights will be back on the ballot next year.

If voters don’t read between the lines, they might miss the fact that passage of Amendment 3 in November 2026 would reimpose the state’s abortion ban in all but rare cases or rape, incest or when the mother’s life is at risk.

Critics argue the language is misleading and written in a way to entice voters.

“I don’t know why, unless you’re trying to confuse people, you write it this way,” said Mary Ziegler, a law professor at the University of California-Davis who closely follows legal fights over abortion access. “I think, from the standpoint of a lot of Republican lawmakers, protecting the unborn is more important than being honest with voters.”

Supporters of the measure push back on the idea that the amendment is an abortion ban, pointing to the few instances when the procedure would be allowed under the legislation.

“It’s a good compromise for the voters and so there’s no need (for the ballot language) to suggest that it does ban abortions, or all abortions, because it doesn’t,” said Sam Lee, a longtime anti-abortion lobbyist in Jefferson City.

Whether or not the measure is intended to deceive voters, its carefully worded language will appear on ballots unless the American Civil Liberties Union of Missouri prevails in its lawsuit to block Amendment 3.

More from this past week

• A judge has ordered that because a former Missouri boarding school leader accused of abuse can’t afford to travel to his trial in California, the U.S. Marshals must pay to get him there.

• CoreCivic is asking a judge to vacate the temporary restraining order he imposed last month blocking the company’s plans for an immigrant detention center in Leavenworth.

• Here’s how Kansas and Missouri representatives and senators voted in the hurried push to pass President Trump’s massive, controversial spending bill.

Looking for more?

• For more politics news, follow @bymatthewkelly.bsky.social, @kacen.bsky.social, and @grice1911.bsky.social.

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That’s all for now! See you next week.

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