Both supporters and opponents of abortion rights have filed lawsuits against a ballot amendment that is set to appear on the Missouri ballot this election.
In last-minute filings, two lawsuits aim to kick the initiative off the ballot in a race against the clock as the courts have until Sept. 10 to make any changes. Following the 2022 Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, Missouri was the first state to outlaw abortion. It is now banned entirely except for limited exceptions to save the mother’s life.
If the amendments survive legal challenges and it is passed on Election Day, the ballot measure would overturn the state’s present abortion law and restrict the state government from creating laws on abortion. It would only allow the state legislature to pass a law banning abortion after the point of fetal viability, which is believed to be around 24 weeks of pregnancy, and allow exceptions for the mother’s life or health.
Last week, two Republican state lawmakers and a prominent anti-abortion leader sued in hopes of tossing the amendment. They argue that Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft (R-MO) should not have allowed the amendment to make it onto the ballot because the measure does not inform voters about the exact range of abortion regulations and laws in Missouri that will be overturned if the amendment passes.
WHERE ABORTION BALLOT MEASURES STAND IN DIFFERENT STATES
“It is a scorched earth campaign, razing our state lawbooks of critical protections for vulnerable women and children, the innocent unborn, parents, and any taxpayer who does not want their money to pay for abortion and other extreme decisions that this Amendment defines as ‘care,’” Thomas More Society Senior Counsel Mary Catherine Martin, who is representing the plaintiffs, said in a statement.
The other lawsuit against Ashcroft comes from the abortion rights campaign, which argues that the language used in the ballot measure is “intentionally argumentative and is likely to create prejudice against the proposed measure.” They are looking for the language of the ballot measure to be rewritten.
The ballot measure reads: “A ‘yes’ vote will enshrine the right to abortion at any time of a pregnancy in the Missouri Constitution. Additionally, it will prohibit any regulation of abortion, including regulations designed to protect women undergoing abortions and prohibit any civil or criminal recourse against anyone who performs an abortion and hurts or kills the pregnant women.”
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Missouri is one of several states with an abortion amendment on the ballot this year as part of a national push for voters to decide abortion laws in their states.
The Washington Examiner reached out to Ashcroft for comment.
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