In November, Missouri voters made history: for the first time since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, voters approved a citizen-initiated ballot measure that effectively repealed a state’s near-total abortion ban. Rachel Sweet led the campaign.
“It feels great to have been a part of the team that was the first state to end a total abortion ban at the ballot box,” Sweet says. “It means a lot to me as a Missourian—as somebody who lives in this state and has for a long time.”
This wasn’t Sweet’s first time doing this kind of work. A former lobbyist for Planned Parenthood, Sweet led campaigns against two measures on the Kansas and Kentucky ballots in 2022 that sought to restrict abortion access, and she was a senior advisor to the campaign for a measure on the Ohio ballot in 2023 that aimed to protect abortion rights. Each time, she helped to secure a victory for abortion rights.
Key to Sweet’s strategy was reaching out to many different groups—from physicians in rural communities to members of the clergy. “Abortion has often been painted as a partisan, political issue, but that is not necessarily how voters see it,” Sweet says. “If only Democrats voted yes on Amendment 3 in Missouri, it would not have passed.”
“It’s just really important to meet voters where they are,” she continues. “Our job is really to connect with voters around our shared values, like individual liberty. This is not a decision that the government should be making for families—it is a decision that women and their families should make together.”