Federal Elected Officials
From Josh Hawley to Ann Wagner, Missouri has a deep bench of anti-abortion elected officials in Congress.
Activism 101 Deep Dives
Missouri: The Anti-Abortion Extremist Testing Ground
Missouri has become a hub for the anti-abortion movement, shaping legislation and legal theory far beyond its borders.
Missouri is both a symbol of and a laboratory for the anti-abortion movement. Its laws and court cases have shaped national legal theory, its politicians and activists are influential in federal debates, and its rapid post-Dobbs ban showed its central role in reshaping reproductive rights in the U.S.
Fight back against anti-abortion extremism with us.
Jump to
Judicial and Cabinet Nominees
From attempts to roll back access to mifepristone, to attacks on Planned Parenthood and Missouri’s reproductive rights ballot measure, federal nominees from Missouri like Solicitor General John Sauer and federal district court judge Joshua Divine have made their extremism front and center.
Federal Lawsuits
Lawsuits attacking a safe and effective abortion pill, Planned Parenthood, and more have their roots in Missouri.
Extreme Anti-Abortion Organizations
The National Right to Life Committee, Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America and more have deep ties to Missouri.
Attacks on Missourians’ Right to Abortion at the Ballot Box
In 2024, Missouri made history by overturning its abortion ban at the ballot box. Now Missouri Republican lawmakers are trying to undo that vote using misleading and deceptive tactics.
State Elected Officials
Current and former statewide officials in Missouri have extreme anti-abortion views.
Stay in the Know
We Need You in this Fight
We’re laying the groundwork now to defeat anti-abortion extremists and protect reproductive rights everywhere.
You’ll be among the first to know how you can take action when you sign up for text and email alerts from us.
Federal Lawmakers
From Josh Hawley to Ann Wagner, Missouri has a deep bench of anti-abortion elected officials in Congress who are fighting tooth and nail to take away our reproductive freedom.
Josh Hawley, U.S. Senator
Notable Connections: Married to Erin Hawley (litigator at Alliance Defending Freedom, an anti-abortion extremist group)
Need to Know:
- Has consistently voted against reproductive freedom every year he’s been in office
- Spearheaded proposed federal legislation that aims to roll back reproductive freedom, including bills to: ban abortion nationwide, ban mifepristone nationwide, defund Planned Parenthood, undermine abortion access for youths, and more
- Led a letter and corresponding pressure campaign on behalf Senate Republicans demanding that the Food and Drug Administrator Martin Makary launch a baseless review of mifepristone based on a junk science study
- As the former Solicitor General of Missouri, he assisted in the Supreme Court case Burwell v. Hobby Lobby, where the Court ruled that certain employers could block their employees’ access to birth control
- Objected to the certification of Joe Biden’s presidential victory in 2020
Eric Schmitt, U.S. Senator
Need to Know:
- Has received a 0 on our Congressional Record on Reproductive Freedom every year he’s been in office
- After the Dobbs ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade, then-Attorney General Schmitt issued a declaration banning abortion in the state—making Missouri become the first state post-Dobbs to enact such a ban
Missouri’s U.S. Representatives
MO-02
Ann Wagner
Notable Connections: Loretto Wagner, her mother-in-law, is an anti-abortion activist
- Has received a 0 on our Congressional Record on Reproductive Freedom almost every year she’s been in office
- Former state director for George H.W. Bush’s campaign
MO-07
Eric Burlison
Has received a 0 on our Congressional Record on Reproductive Freedom every year he’s been in office
MO-04
Mark Alford
Has received a 0 on our Congressional Record on Reproductive Freedom every year he’s been in office.
MO-08
Jason Smith
Has received a 0 on our Congressional Record on Reproductive Freedom every year he’s been in office.
MO-O3
Bob Onder
- Has received a 0 on our Congressional Record on Reproductive Freedom to date
- Advocated for a bill to ban abortion at 8 weeks
- Wrote legislation to add unnecessary regulations to reproductive health care clinics
MO-06
Sam Graves
Has received a 0 on our Congressional Record on Reproductive Freedom every year he’s been in office
Judicial and Cabinet Nominees
From the U.S. Solicitor General to lifetime judicial appointments, Trump has pulled from Missouri’s bench of anti-abortion extremists to pursue his radical agenda—even when he’s no longer in office.
Trump nominated him to: United States District Court for the Eastern and Western Districts of Missouri
Joshua Divine
Need to Know:
- Represented Missouri in an ongoing, baseless lawsuit challenging the FDA’s authority to regulate mifepristone, a safe and effective abortion medication
- Challenged Missouri’s Reproductive Freedom Ballot Initiative, even after the majority of Missourians voted to enshrine reproductive freedom in the state’s constitution
- Has spread disinformation about the safety of birth control
- Attacked Planned Parenthood and supported efforts to have it defunded
Trump nominated her to: United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri
Maria Lanhan
Need to Know:
- Represented Missouri in an ongoing, baseless lawsuit challenging the FDA’s authority to regulate mifepristone, a safe and effective abortion medication
- Challenged Missouri’s Reproductive Freedom Ballot Initiative, even after the majority of Missourians voted to enshrine reproductive freedom in the state’s constitution
- Defended proposed legislation to prevent Planned Parenthood from receiving any state Medicaid funding
Trump nominated him to: U.S. Solicitor General
John Sauer
Need to Know:
- Led litigation to undermine access to reproductive health care
- Partnered with anti-abortion organizations
- Gave substantial personal funds to organizations that oppose access to abortion and contraception
Federal Lawsuits
Missouri is the epicenter for extremists to bring lawsuits that would take away access to medication abortion and Planned Parenthood.
Missouri v. FDA
This ongoing case could take away approval of mifepristone—a safe and effective medication that’s been approved for decades for abortion and miscarriage management.
Missouri v. PPFA
This ongoing case alleges that Planned Parenthood downplayed the so-called danger of mifepristone (which is safer than Tylenol) and seeks almost $2 million in penalties from Planned Parenthood.
Planned Parenthood Great Plains and Great Rivers-Missouri v. Missouri
After Missouri voters passed Amendment 3 (which guarantees reproductive freedom up to fetal viability), Planned Parenthood and others sued to block numerous abortion bans, restrictions and “TRAP” (targeted regulation of abortion provider) laws.
Despite a Circuit Court judge’s ruling to block abortion restrictions based on the state constitutional right to abortion, Missouri’s Supreme Court later ordered a reinstatement of the state’s near-total abortion ban. After a second ruling, the Circuit Court once again blocked many of the state’s bans and restrictions.
Extreme Anti-Abortion Organizations
Extreme anti-abortion organizations have deep ties to power players in Missouri and across the country.
Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF)
The Conservative Christian legal group that leads and supports litigation to restrict abortion access.
The Connections:
- Erin Hawley: Litigator and Vice President at ADF. Argued the case attacking mifepristone. Representing an anti-abortion fake health center in an upcoming Supreme Court Case. Worked on the Dobbs case that overturned Roe v. Wade. Married to Josh Hawley.
- US Solicitor General Sauer: participated in numerous ADF trainings.
- Several of Trump’s anti-reproductive freedom judicial nominees have ties to ADF. Examples from his second term include Jordan Pratt (Middle District of Florida, former Blackstone Fellow), Justin Olson (Southern District of Indiana, ADF member), and Joshua Dunlap (First Circuit, former ADF intern).
The Heritage Foundation
Advances an anti-abortion agenda mainly through policy blueprints for states to adopt and advocacy that aims to restrict access to abortion and cut public funding for reproductive care. This group is the key architect for Project 2025.
The Connections:
- Josh Hawley: Former Heritage Foundation intern, regularly speaks at Heritage Foundation events
- Russ Vought (Director of the Office of Management and Budget & lead architect of Project 2025): former Vice President of the Heritage Foundation’s sister organization, Heritage Action for America
- Elliot Gaiser: received the Heritage Foundation’s Distinguished Intern Alumni Award.” A conservative outlet noted how “Gaiser credit[ed] Heritage for developing his commitment to conservative principles.”
Family Research Council
Pushes an anti-abortion agenda through policy advocacy, lobbying, and mobilization.
The Connections:
- Endorsed Josh Hawley, Andrew Bailey, and Eric Burlison
- Josh Hawley and Erin Hawley speak at their events
Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America
National political and advocacy organization that works to restrict abortion through elections, legislation, and public campaigning.
They recruit and fund anti-abortion candidates, run large voter-contact programs (door-knocking, phone/text banks, ads), and publish lawmaker scorecards to pressure votes.
The Connections:
- Helped elect Josh Hawley to the Senate
- Amplified the Alliance Defending Freedom’s role in overturning Roe, praising Erin Hawley’s work
- Support officials like Eric Schmitt and Ann Wagner
🔍 Read our deep dive about Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America (SBA)
National Right to Life Committee
Leads one of the longest-running anti-abortion operations in the U.S., focused on: drafting and lobbying for state and federal abortion bans and supporting candidates who back abortion restrictions and opposing those who don’t.
They recruit and fund anti-abortion candidates, run large voter-contact programs (door-knocking, phone/text banks, ads), and publish lawmaker scorecards to pressure votes.
Attacks on Missourians’ Right to Abortion
In 2024, Missourians made history by voting to reverse its abortion ban—the Right to Reproductive Freedom Amendment—which enshrined the right to reproductive freedom in the state constitution, including access to abortion care, prenatal care, childbirth, postpartum care, birth control, miscarriage care, and respectful birthing conditions.
Missourians sent a clear message: politicians do not belong in our families’ private decision-making. Now, Missouri Republicans are trying to undo that vote. And yes—they’re even using the same name to make it harder to tell what’s actually happening.
Republican Attacks on Missouri’s Reproductive Freedom Protections:
Throughout 2025 Missouri’s Republican state lawmakers introduced 18 separate bills to undermine the Right to Reproductive Freedom Amendment. Now they’ve landed on a single, deceptive measure designed to ban abortion all over again.
In a diabolical move to confuse voters, GOP lawmakers have given their abortion ban the exact same name as the amendment that protected reproductive freedom.
This new abortion ban measure—also called Amendment 3—does the opposite of what voters approved in 2024. It would repeal the protections Missourians just passed, immediately reinstate new health care bans, and give politicians broader power to restrict access to care across the state.
State Elected Officials
From the Governor to the former Attorney General, statewide elected officials in Missouri are using their positions to pursue extreme anti-abortion restrictions.
Governor
Mike Kehoe
Notable Connections: Anti-abortion leaders have called him a “pro-life leader.”
- Several of Kehoe’s key advisors, including his wife, First Lady Claudia Kehoe, have started or joined political action committees to support the 2026 ballot initiative that could ban abortion in the state.
- He’s also stated that he voted in favor of every anti-abortion bill that came to the floor when he was a state legislator.
Former Attorney General, now the Co-Deputy Director of the FBI
Andrew Bailey
Notable Connections: He's a far-right, anti-abortion extremist who launched a fake publicity campaign against Planned Parenthood who was endorsed by Josh Hawley.
- Despite a voter-approved constitutional amendment (Amendment 3) establishing a right to abortion, Bailey continued to defend the state's abortion bans and restrictions.
- Filed a lawsuit against Planned Parenthood (Missouri v. PPFA) and a lawsuit to limit access to medication abortion nationwide (Missouri v. FDA)
Attorney General
Catherine Hanaway
Notable Connections: Anti-abortion leaders have called her a “well-established fighter for life” and uplifted her anti-abortion legislative history.
- Hanaway is part of the ongoing litigation in Missouri v. FDA, attempting to roll back access and approval of mifepristone (a very safe and effective abortion medication).
- Hanaway’s office has demanded health records of Planned Parenthood abortion patients to try and keep several regulations that limit access to abortion in place.
Stay in the Know
We Need You in this Fight
We’re laying the groundwork now to defeat anti-abortion extremists and protect reproductive rights everywhere.
You’ll be among the first to know how you can take action when you sign up for text and email alerts from us.
FURTHER READING
Deep Dives Reproductive Rights
Why Voting Rights and Reproductive Freedom Are the Same Fight
Deep Dives Activism 101
Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America (SBA): The Anti-Abortion Movement’s Political Puppeteer Power Broker
Deep Dives Reproductive Rights