Muddy River Tribune: Catholics for Choice Issue an Open Letter on Behalf of Catholic Majority’s Support for Reproductive Freedom
By Rev. Maggie Gann and Nicole McCurdy, Catholics for Choice
Catholics for Choice is a non-profit organization that amplifies the voices of the overwhelming majority of Catholics who support reproductive freedom.
Since our founding in 1973, we have worked in the United States and globally to ensure that all people have access to safe, affordable reproductive healthcare. We do this because we are committed to dismantling religiously rooted barriers to abortion care, contraception, and comprehensive healthcare, particularly where they harm marginalized communities, including people of color and those living in poverty.
On behalf of pro-choice Catholics in Missouri and across the country, we urge you to vote NO on Amendment 3.
One of the most fundamental teachings in the Catholic tradition is the primacy of conscience. This doctrine holds that Catholics must use their reason to discern the ethical complexities of situations and that their individual consciences should be the final arbiter in all moral decision-making.
In 2024, Missouri voters used their formed consciences to defend each individual’s right to do the same and make healthcare decisions with their families, doctors, and faith leaders, free from government interference.
That vote did not require anyone to abandon their faith or change their personal beliefs about abortion. It recognized that in a society with religious freedom, the government should not impose one person’s religious convictions on another person’s medical decisions.
Yet, politicians are using deceptive practices to force their religious beliefs on others, over the will of the people. Abortion is a complex moral matter, and using the Constitution to override someone else’s conscience on it is not the church’s or the state’s role.
Amendment 3 takes away the space for each person to decide according to their own conscience, in consultation with their doctor, their family, and their God.
Even though the Catholic church’s hierarchy uses faith to undermine abortion rights and restrict access to care, the reality is that most Catholics support reproductive freedom, including access to abortion care. 63% of Catholics believe abortion should be legal in most cases, 1 in 4 abortion patients is Catholic, and just 8% of Catholics agree with the bishops’ stance on abortion.
Yet, the Missouri Catholic Conference is using organizational and financial resources to put doctrine into the state’s constitution, indicating an ever-widening gap between the church’s institutional leadership stance on reproductive freedom and abortion, and what our faith actually calls us to do: respect conscience, religious freedom, and Catholic social teachings.
Pro-choice Catholicism is rooted in Catholic theology and holds space to support reproductive freedom. Contrary to what many may think because of widely spread anti-abortion institutional narratives, we support access to abortion because of our faith, not in spite of it.
Missouri Amendment 3, on the ballot November 3, 2026, would repeal the voter-approved Right to Reproductive Freedom Initiative from 2024, which constitutionally established a fundamental right to reproductive freedom, including birth control, safe birthing conditions, and abortion.
The state should not become the enforcement arm of any single religious body’s doctrine, including the Catholic church.
This amendment seeks to write one religious tradition into the Constitution for everyone, including the many Missourians of other faiths, or no faith, who don’t share it. Religious freedom protects Catholics’ right to their beliefs, and it protects everyone else’s right not to have those beliefs imposed on them by law.
Catholic social teaching requires us to fight for access to healthcare, not against it. The people most harmed by this amendment are exactly who Catholic social teaching tells us to prioritize.
As Missourians are forced to vote on new Amendment 3, the central question is larger than abortion alone.
It is a question about conscience, religious freedom, healthcare, and the proper role of government in private medical decisions. Whatever conclusion a voter reaches, that decision deserves to be made with a clear understanding of what the amendment would change and with respect for the conscience and religious freedom of every Missourian.
If you voted to secure the “fundamental right to reproductive freedom” and end the abortion ban in Missouri, now more than ever, it is crucial to vote so your voice is heard clearly. Vote NO on Amendment 3.
Signed,
Rev. Maggie Gann, Pro-Choice Catholic in Missouri and Nicole McCurdy, MA, MS, Organizing & Engagement Specialist-Policy & Campaigns at Catholics for Choice
