Right now, St. Louis has a critical decision in front of us, and for Abortion Action Missouri, the choice was clear. Tishaura Jones has been a pivotal leader in the reproductive freedom movement since her 2008 run for State Representative. Her first term as St. Louis Mayor has had its challenges, but there is no question that with Mayor Jones you get a fearless leader ready to stand up to attacks from the state and federal government and put the people of St. Louis and our rights ahead of corporate interests and big money.
In Mayor Jones’ fifteen years as a public servant the landscape of abortion rights has changed dramatically in our state. While the state targeted and closed abortion clinics one-by-one, she fought hard in the state legislature and not one new restriction on abortion passed during her two terms.
During her tenure as the first Black Woman to hold the office of St. Louis City treasurer, the St. Louis Planned Parenthood was the only clinic providing abortion care in Missouri, and Jones saw the writing on the wall. In preparation for the impending fall of Roe v. Wade, she initiated a groundbreaking study documenting the economic impact of abortion bans. This study, in a partnership between the office of the Treasurer and Abortion Action Missouri Foundation, would go on to be published less than a month into her term as Mayor in 2021.
Later in 2021, when Texas became the first state to pass a bounty hunter law, putting abortion seekers coming to and through St. Louis at risk, Jones signed the Declaration of Reproductive Freedom, which passed unanimously. At the signing ceremony, Jones declared: “First they come for our bodies, but what’s next, they’re coming for all of our rights, our voting rights, our civil rights, our rights of Black bodies, our rights of cities to govern ourselves, our school’s rights to teach actual history, and our LGBTQ rights…. I’m going to fight like hell to make sure it doesn’t happen.”
When the Dobbs decision came down in June 2022 and Missouri’s near-total abortion ban was first enacted, Abortion Action Missouri and Jones’ office established The Reproductive Equity Fund. Jones signed this first-of-its-kind municipal policy into law weeks later creating a $3 million fund to help abortion seekers forced to travel out of state and provide support for all pregnancy care regardless of outcome.
And when the Attorney General sued the City of St. Louis over this policy, Mayor Tishaura Jones went head-to-head with AG Bailey to protect and defend The Reproductive Equity Fund, “I will not back down when our opponents threaten, bully or demean our city, especially an attorney general more concerned with chasing clout than care,” she said. “Bring it.”
That year, Abortion Action Missouri worked alongside the Office of the Mayor to ensure community awareness of the new grant support available. Thanks to this ongoing partnership, in 2023 $500,000 was distributed directly to organizations to support increasing access to doulas, and other pregnancy care to address maternal health across St. Louis.
In 2024 after advocates collected 380,000 signatures to end Missouri’s abortion ban, when anti-abortion state lawmakers tried to block Amendment 3 from getting on the ballot, Mayor Jones worked with leaders across the state and took the fight directly to the Missouri Supreme Court demanding the will of the people be heard.
In November, 81% of St. Louis voters voted for Amendment 3 and the right to reproductive freedom. And right now, three clinics across Missouri have begun to re-establish abortion care. But with the fight to implement and defend Amendment 3 ahead of us, we need a champion who won’t pull punches and will stand up for St. Louis. As Jones said, “Legislators all the way in Jeff City keep telling people here in St. Louis what we can and can’t do with our bodies, and I say enough is enough.” St. Louis, in this moment when our city is coming under attack from the governor, the state, and federal administration– it’s not enough to just be pro-choice, St. Louis needs a champion.
Abortion Action Missouri PAC President
