The Missouri Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that an amendment that would enshrine abortion access in the state’s constitution can appear on the general election ballot.
A majority of the state Supreme Court said that a previous judgment by a circuit court is reversed, directing Missouri Secretary of State John Ashcroft to inform local election officials to place Amendment 3 on the state’s Nov. 5 ballot.
Ashcroft’s office had announced in August that the initiative was certified for the ballot, but a circuit court judge said last week that it didn’t meet certain legal requirements.
If voters approve the measure, it would amend the state’s constitution to establish a right to make decisions about reproductive health care, remove the state’s current restrictions on abortion, allow the regulation of reproductive health care to improve a patient’s health, and require the government not to discriminate against people providing or seeking reproductive health care.
The amendment would also protect abortion rights up until fetal viability, around the 24th week of pregnancy, except to protect the life or health of the mother.
“Today’s decision is a victory for both direct democracy and reproductive freedom in Missouri,” said Rachel Sweet, the campaign manager for Missourians for Constitutional Freedom, the group that spearheaded the initiative. “The Missouri Supreme Court’s ruling ensures that Amendment 3, the Right to Reproductive Freedom Initiative, will appear on the November ballot, giving voters—not politicians—the power to decide on this critical issue.
Missouri is one of 10 states that will have an abortion-rights amendment on the ballot this year.
Missourians for Constitutional Freedom had submitted the required number of signatures to officials in early May. Last month, Ashcroft deemed that the petitions to qualify the initiative for the ballot had the sufficient number of signatures and certified the measure for the November ballot.
But last week Cole County Circuit Judge Christopher Limbaugh ruled that the abortion rights campaign had failed to meet certain criteria during the signature-gathering process related to notifying voters that the measure would undo the state’s near-total abortion ban.
Missouri has one of the strictest abortion bans in the country, with exceptions to protect the life of the mother and for medical emergencies.
In that ruling, Limbaugh stopped short of removing the measure from the ballot, providing the campaign the opportunity instead to appeal to the state Supreme Court before a Tuesday deadline.
In a brief one-page ruling, Missouri Chief Supreme Court Justice Mary Russell wrote that the “the circuit court’s judgment is reversed” and that Ashcroft “shall certify to local election authorities that Amendment 3 be placed on the November 5, 2024, general election ballot and shall take all steps necessary to ensure that it is on said ballot.”
The court did not immediately release its justices’ opinions.