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 court reversed a previous judgment by a circuit court, 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 announced last month that the initiative had been certified for the ballot, but a circuit court judge said last week that it didn't meet certain legal requirements.
If voters approve it, the measure would amend the state 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 woman.
“Today’s decision is a victory for both direct democracy and reproductive freedom in Missouri,” Rachel Sweet, the campaign manager for Missourians for Constitutional Freedom, the group that spearheaded the initiative, said in a statement. “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.”
Mary Catherine Martin, senior counsel for the Thomas More Society, an anti-abortion-rights group that had argued during Tuesday's case for the measure to not appear on the ballot, called the ruling "deeply unfortunate."
Missouri is one of 10 states that will have abortion-rights amendments on their ballots this year.
Missourians for Constitutional Freedom submitted the required number of signatures to officials in early May. Last month, Ashcroft deemed that the petitions 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 woman and for medical emergencies.
In that ruling, Limbaugh stopped short of removing the measure from the ballot, giving the campaign the opportunity, instead, to appeal to the state Supreme Court before a Tuesday deadline.
In a brief one-page ruling, Chief Justice Mary Russell wrote that "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 the justices' opinions.
