Missouri judge rewrites Secretary of State's description of abortion rights proposal

A campaign to ask Missouri voters to make abortions legal again has won another court battle. A Cole County judge says Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft’s wording to describe an abortion rights proposal is “unfair, inaccurate, insufficient and misleading.”

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

Ashcroft’s wording said a “yes” vote would enshrine abortion rights “at any time of a pregnancy,” bar abortion regulations “designed to protect women” and prohibit legal recourse “against anyone who performs an abortion and hurts or kills the pregnant women.”

Tori Schafer, with the ACLU, said the group wants an accurate reflection of what the proposal is designed to do – unlike the Secretary of State’s wording.

“Our language, in the constitutional amendment, there is clearly regulations to protect the health and safety of patients. This is an issue that we’ve already really, we’ve already litigated. The Court of Appeals found that the amendment has regulations so that their argument is unfounded,” said Schafer.

Amendment Three would allow abortion but also give state legislators some say in regulating abortion after the point in a pregnancy when the fetus is likely to survive outside of the uterus. Fetal viability is around six months.

Andrew Crane, with Missouri Attorney General’s Office, said the Secretary of State’s wording accurately describes the consequences of the proposed changes. Crane argued in court this week that Amendment 3 would lead to “neutering” the government’s ability to enforce any “effective” abortion regulation.

Susan Klein, with Missouri Right to Life, agrees with Ashcroft’s phrasing.

“This takes all of that protection of a woman away from the legislature, because the amendment is very clear that you cannot restrict in any way a woman’s right to abortion,” Klein said.

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

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

The abortion proposal is back in court on Friday. A group of anti-abortion activists and legislators have sued, claiming that the ballot measure violates the state constitution by including more than one subject and fails to spell out which laws and provisions would be repealed if it was approved. The case will be heard in Cole County Court.