JEFFERSON CITY, Missouri (AP) — A bill to overturn Missouri’s near-total ban on abortion will be on the ballot in November, the state’s highest court ruled Tuesday, the latest victory in a nationwide battle to give voters a say in abortion legislation since federal rights to the procedure expire in 2022.
If passed, the proposal would enshrine abortion rights in the Constitution and largely replace the state’s near-total abortion ban. The justices made their decision just hours before a deadline Tuesday to make changes to November ballot papers.
Supreme Court justices ordered Republican Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft to put the bill back on the ballot after he withdrew it on Monday following a district judge’s ruling on Friday.
The order also calls on Ashcroft, an anti-abortion activist, to “take all necessary steps to ensure that abortion is on the ballot.”
State Department spokesperson JoDonn Chaney said in an email that the Secretary of State’s office would put the amendment to a vote, but Ashcroft said in a statement that he was “disappointed” by the decision.
The court’s full statement on the case was not immediately released on Tuesday.
Missourians for Constitutional Freedom, the campaign supporting the measure, praised the decision.
“Missourislors overwhelmingly support reproductive rights, including access to abortion, birth control and miscarriage care,” campaign manager Rachel Sweet said in a statement. “Now they have a chance to enshrine these protections in the Missouri Constitution on November 5.”
Mary Catherine Martin, a lawyer for a group of Republican lawmakers and anti-abortion activists suing to repeal the amendment, told Supreme Court justices during a hasty hearing on Tuesday that the initiative had “misled voters” because it did not list all the laws restricting abortion that it would effectively repeal.
“This Missouri Supreme Court has looked the other way and ruled that Missourians do not need to be fully informed of the laws their vote may overturn before signing ballot initiatives,” the plaintiffs said in a statement following the decision.
Missouri banned nearly all abortions immediately after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022.
Eight other states, including Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Maryland, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada and South Dakota, are considering constitutional amendments to enshrine abortion rights. Most would guarantee a right to abortion until the fetus is viable and allow it later for the pregnant woman’s health reasons, which is what Missouri’s proposal includes.
There is also a ballot bill in New York that supporters say would protect abortion rights, but there is disagreement about its effects.
A vote on this polarizing issue could draw more people to the polls, potentially affecting presidential outcomes in swing states, congressional majorities, and outcomes in hotly contested state offices. Democrats in Missouri, for example, are hoping to gain support from abortion rights supporters in the November election.
Legal battles have erupted across the country over whether voters should be allowed to decide these issues — and over the exact language on ballots and supporting materials. In August, Arkansas’ highest court upheld the decision not to put an abortion rights initiative on the state’s November ballot, agreeing with election officials that the group behind the initiative had failed to file proper records about the signature gatherers it had hired.
In all seven states where abortion issues have been on the ballot since the Roe ruling was overturned, voters have sided with abortion supporters.
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This article has been corrected to show that eight states other than Missouri are considering constitutional amendments enshrining abortion rights, not nine.
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Associated Press reporter David A. Lieb contributed to this report.
