Missouri judge rewrites secretary of state's description of abortion rights proposal

A campaign to ask Missouri voters to re-legalize abortion has won another court battle. A Cole County judge said Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft’s language to describe a proposed abortion rights bill was “unfair, inaccurate, insufficient and misleading.”

The Missourians for Constitutional Freedom Campaign sued Ashcroft over the language voters will see at polling places in November when they are asked to overturn the state’s near-total abortion ban.

According to Ashcroft’s text, a “yes” vote would guarantee the right to abortion “at any point in pregnancy,” ban abortion regulations “designed to protect women,” and prohibit legal recourse “against anyone who performs an abortion and injures or kills pregnant women.”

Tori Schafer of the ACLU said the group wants to have a clear idea of what the proposal is supposed to do, as opposed to the secretary of state’s language.

“Our text, in the constitutional amendment, clearly provides rules to protect the health and safety of patients. This is an issue we have argued before. The Court of Appeals held that the amendment contained rules, which makes his argument moot,” Schafer said.

The Third Amendment would allow abortion but would also give state lawmakers discretion over how to regulate abortion after the point in pregnancy when the fetus is likely to survive outside the womb. Fetal viability is about six months.

Andrew Crane of the Missouri attorney general’s office said the secretary of state’s language accurately describes the implications of the proposed changes. Crane argued in court this week that Amendment 3 would “neutralize” the government’s ability to enforce any “effective” abortion regulations.

Susan Klein of Missouri Right to Life agrees with Ashcroft’s formulation.

“It takes all that protection away from women in the legislature, because the amendment makes it very clear that you cannot in any way restrict a woman’s right to an abortion,” Klein said.

Judge Cotton Walker, a Republican, rewrote the text because he said Ashcroft’s version violated state law.

According to Walker, a “yes” vote “establishes a constitutional right to make decisions about reproductive health care, including abortion and contraceptives, with any government interference with that right presumed invalid; removes Missouri’s ban on abortion; allows for the regulation of reproductive health care to improve or maintain the health of the patient; requires that the government not discriminate in government programs, funding, and other activities against persons providing or obtaining reproductive health care; and allows for the restriction or prohibition of abortion after fetal viability, except to protect the life or health of the woman.”

The abortion bill will be heard in court again Friday. A group of anti-abortion activists and lawmakers have filed a lawsuit, arguing that the referendum measure violates the state constitution by including more than one topic and fails to explain what laws and provisions would be repealed if it is approved. The case will be heard in Cole County Court.