ACLU Funnels Millions Into Abortion Ballot Initiative in ‘Reckless Disregard’ for the Law, Watchdog Says

The American Civil Liberties Union Foundation has poured $2.5 million into a pro-abortion and pro-transgender ballot initiative campaign in Missouri after receiving millions from foreign sources. A watchdog group alleges the donations are in direct violation of the state’s law.

Americans for Public Trust filed a complaint with the office of Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway, a Republican, Wednesday, claiming that the ACLU likely violated Missouri law by contributing to the campaign.

“Foreign nationals, foreign charities, and foreign governments are actively exploiting loopholes to funnel their foreign dark money into American politics,” Caitlin Sutherland, executive director of Americans for Public Trust, told the Daily Signal in a statement Monday. “We previously exposed how just five foreign charities spent nearly $2 billion bankrolling U.S. policy fights, litigation, research, and protests.”

“Just one example of how the foreign money is flowing comes via the Swiss-based Oak Foundation’s contributions to the ACLU Foundation that have then been laundered into a Missouri ballot measure campaign,” she added.

“Fortunately, Missouri recently banned foreign money in their ballot measure campaigns, so we are confident the ACLU’s foreign money pipeline into the state will be stopped,” Sutherland concluded. “This is why every state should have laws on the books banning foreign money in ballot campaigns.”

When reached for comment, the ACLU Foundation told the Daily Signal that it is complying with the law.

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“The ACLU is aware of and compliant with this Missouri campaign finance law,” the organization said.

The Abortion Ballot Initiative

This November, Missouri voters will cast their ballots on Amendment 3, a ballot initiative that would repeal the “Reproductive Freedom Amendment” in the state’s constitution. The amendment, which voters approved by a narrow 51.6% to 48.4% margin in 2024, prevents the Legislature from banning abortion before the point of fetal viability, the point at which “a treating health care professional” determines that a baby is likely to survive outside the womb without “extraordinary medical measures.”

Amendment 3 would repeal the “Reproductive Freedom Amendment,” allowing the Legislature to restrict abortion, except in cases of medical emergency or fetal anomaly at any point during pregnancy, or in cases of rape or incest in the first 12 weeks of gestation. The amendment would ban all public funds for abortion, except in the rare cases just mentioned. It would also require a woman’s voluntary and informed consent for abortion, except in cases of medical emergency where she could not consent.

The ballot initiative explicitly protects “a woman’s ability to access health care in cases of miscarriages, ectopic pregnancies, and other medical emergencies.”

Amendment 3 prohibits gender transition surgeries, cross-sex hormones, and so-called puberty-blocking drugs for minors for the purpose of gender transition. The restriction does not apply to children born with a disorder of sex development or for other purposes, such as precocious puberty (a too-early onset of puberty).

Missouri Law

Americans have every right to advocate for causes they believe in, and nonprofits like the ACLU Foundation can generally contribute to ballot initiatives, but Missouri law explicitly forbids foreign funding in these campaigns.

In July 2025, Gov. Mike Kehoe, R-Mo., signed Senate Bill 152, which forbids ballot measure committees and political party committees from accepting contributions from foreign nationals, foreign political parties, or entities organized under the laws of a foreign country.

The law prohibits contributions from “contributors that have received more than $10,000 from prohibited sources … in the four years preceding the date of the contribution.”

According to campaign finance records, the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation gave Stop the Bans, a campaign focused on defeating Amendment 3, $100,000 on March 8 and $400,000 on March 18. The ACLU gave the campaign another $2 million on Tuesday, May 26.

Americans for Public Trust’s complaint—filed the day after the latest ACLU contribution—notes that the ACLU received almost $6 million from the Wyss Foundation, an entity operated by Swiss billionaire Hansjörg Wyss, according to 990 filings from 2002-2024. The ACLU also received more than $2 million from the Switzerland-based Oak Foundation, with grants received in 2014, 2017, and 2020.

The Oak Foundation’s 2025 annual report mentions a new two-year $2 million grant to the ACLU. The grant aims to “provide core support,” which—in the Oak Foundation’s words—means “unrestricted funding.”

In the complaint, Americans for Public Trust “respectfully requests that the attorney general initiate an investigation of the ACLU Foundation and Stop the Ban … and, if found in violation, pursue appropriate enforcement action.”

Sutherland, the watchdog group’s executive director, said the ACLU’s contributions demonstrate “reckless disregard for Missouri’s law.”

Hanaway’s office did not respond to the Daily Signal’s request for comment by publication time.