Abortion-rights advocate takes on her toughest case: Missouri

Source: Reuters

October 20, 2024 4:42 PM EDT Updated 11 hours ago


KANSAS CITY, Missouri, Oct 19 (Reuters) - Rachel Sweet joined dozens of rally goers in a Kansas City, Missouri union headquarters parking lot on a warm October Saturday, holding a sign that read "Yes on 3" and joining a call-and-response chant: "When women’s rights are under attack, what do we do? Stand up, fight back!"

Sweet, 33, could have been any of the union workers, faith leaders or abortion rights canvassers gathered in support of Amendment 3, a measure on the Missouri ballot in the Nov. 5 election that would enshrine the right to abortion in the state constitution. But in the two years since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and eliminated federal abortion rights in 2022, the self-described "polite midwesterner" has been a guiding force behind a winning streak for abortion rights in conservative states.

Seven states have put the issue of abortion to voters through ballot measures since that ruling, and abortion rights campaigns have won every vote.

Sweet, a former lobbyist for Planned Parenthood, led campaigns to defeat anti-abortion initiatives in two of those states - Kansas and Kentucky. She was a senior adviser on Ohio's campaign to establish abortion rights last year, traveling to the state days after her wedding to knock on doors with her husband. In all three states, the campaigns sidestepped party politics on the issue and cast abortion bans as instances of government overreach.

Read more: https://www.reuters.com/world/us/rachel-sweet-has-won-two-nations-toughest-abortion-fights-she-heads-home-2024-10-19/