ACLU of Missouri

11/19/2025

11/14/2025

The Columbia City Council is moving forward B265-25, a bill that targets people experiencing houselessness. Disguised as a public safety measure, B265-25 would criminalize people's presence in public spaces and threaten First Amendment rights. The bill will not only increase racial profiling and police interactions, but it could also prevent local fundraisers and the distribution of goods and services.

City resources would be better used by increasing resources and accessibility at intersections not profiling people near roads and violating our First Amendment rights. Tell your Council Member: these are not Columbia's values. NO on B265-25.

11/04/2025

"The new map faces a series of court challenges from organizations such as the American Civil Liberties Union of Missouri and the Missouri chapter of the NAACP. At the same time, a group called People Not Politicians MO launched a signature-gathering campaign to try to force a statewide vote that would strike down the map."

Gerrymandering is a tactic used to diminish the will of voters by giving politicians the power to group people by how they are perceived to vote. A gerrymandered map leads to disproportional high representation of one group of people while diminishing another, often times communities of color.

This unprecedented move is an attack on our democracy intended to take power away from voters. Missouri voters should choose their elected officials, not D.C. elites hellbent on consolidating power.

10/31/2025

Remind a friend, abortion access is available in Missouri.

After the Right to Reproductive Freedom Initiative passed last November, Missourians gained access to care. First, hospital-based providers began to provide care without the threat of prosecution, then Planned Parenthood affiliates resumed procedural abortion care at clinics in St. Louis, Kansas City, and Columbia. We are currently waiting for a decision in our challenge to end Missouri's ban on medication abortion care, which is the most common form of care nationwide.

Follow here for more updates.

10/20/2025

The ACLU of Missouri is hiring for an internship on our Policy and Campaigns team. Our work covers several issues including free speech and association rights, religious freedom, voting rights, reproductive rights, LGBTQ+ equality, immigrants’ rights, racial equity, education equity, and privacy rights.

Learn more at https://www.aclu-mo.org/en/who-we-are/internships

10/15/2025

The Western District Court of Appeals issued a decision affirming a lower court’s injunction blocking Missouri’s ban on abortion care and enjoining several medically unnecessary restrictions that target abortion providers. In addition to labeling portions of the Attorney General’s argument as “lack[ing] any precedent” and “disingenuous,” the court recognized that, “...if a statute is unconstitutional, being subjected to that statute causes irreparable harm.”

The ACLU of Missouri, Comprehensive Health of Planned Parenthood Great Plains and Planned Parenthood Great Rivers-Missouri issued the following statement:

“The unanimous decision is a critical affirmation that patients can continue to access procedural abortions in Missouri. The court rejected this attempt by the Attorney General, and is continuing to allow Missourians to exercise their constitutional right to access abortion care where they live. We will continue fighting for the full implementation of the Right to Reproductive Freedom Initiative, including medication abortion.”

Planned Parenthood Great Plains Planned Parenthood Great Rivers

10/14/2025

Missouri has executed Lance Shockley.

Abolish the death penalty.

10/14/2025

Abolish the death penalty. The death penalty violates the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment, and is discriminatory, arbitrary, and prone to error in enforcement.

10/13/2025

10/02/2025

"Despite denying the deployment of troops in Missouri just days ago, Governor Kehoe's announcement threatens people and businesses across the state and ignores the needs of the St. Louis community that is still in the midst of clean up from a devastating tornado. The Governor failed to provide basic information, including an order defining the parameters and objective, to prepare Missourians for this unprecedented act. With the backdrop of masked immigration agents breaking apart our families and communities, it is particularly concerning that the Governor is asking Guard members to voluntarily participate in this agenda. At the same time, he is failing to provide resources to the communities impacted by a natural disaster. These politicized actions embolden the administration in D.C. – they do not protect communities in Missouri."

-Luz María Henríquez
Executive Director, ACLU of Missouri