Vote yes on higher pay, sick time and abortion rights for a fair and just Missouri | Opinion

This election, Missourians have the historic opportunity to vote on two ballot initiatives that will impact health equity in Missouri and the well-being of our friends, family and neighbors for decades to come: Proposition A and Amendment 3.

At Health Forward Foundation, every day we work to support and build inclusive, powerful and healthy communities characterized by racial equity and economically just systems. We support community-led initiatives and policies that create fair and equitable community conditions and shape optimal health outcomes for everyone. That’s why I’m asking you to vote yes on these two ballot measures in just three weeks.

In Missouri, 1 in 3 working parents don’t get a single paid sick day. Voting yes on Proposition A would raise the state’s minimum wage from $12.30 an hour to $15 by 2026 and allow Missourians who earn low wages to earn paid sick time. No one should have to choose between their paycheck and their family’s health. Voting yes on Proposition A would give workers paid sick days, help more than 338,000 kids who live in a household with someone earning minimum wage, and would economically advance hardworking people in rural and urban communities alike.

Missouri has one of the most cruel abortion bans in the country. A yes vote on Amendment 3 would protect everyone’s reproductive rights. In Missouri, abortion is completely banned at any stage of a pregnancy, with no exceptions for rape or incest. The right to an abortion is a personal health matter and an economic equity issue. Abortion restrictions at any stage disproportionately impact people of color, people without health insurance and people of lower socioeconomic status, impacting their economic security and exacerbating existing health inequities.

A yes vote on Amendment 3 would end Missouri’s abortion ban and would mean women — with support from their families and their doctor — have the power to make their own decisions around pregnancy and abortion-related care, without politicians interfering.

You have the power to influence our region’s future so that we have healthier people, community power, and equitable and just communities across our state.

Healthy communities yield increased work productivity, earnings and tax revenues. If we vote yes, and these ballot measures become law, they would advance the necessary conditions and resources to build new systems and shape a society in which all can participate, where people who are working hard to make ends meet prosper, where people of color are free from the structural racism that creates health injustice, and where conditions in rural communities don’t hinder optimal health.

Our communities are at their best when everyone votes and everyone’s voice is accounted for. Voting is the best way for people to have a say in how our cities are planned, our resources are funded, our neighborhoods are developed, budgets are allocated and more. As voters, it is our responsibility to ensure we protect our personal health, the health of our families and all our communities.

Together, let’s shape the conditions for health equity to be a reality for every Missourian and their families by voting yes on Amendment 3 and Proposition A on Tuesday, Nov. 5.