COLUMBIA, Mo. -- Both sides of the debate over whether to enshrine abortion rights in Missouri’s constitution have filed last-minute legal challenges hoping to influence how, and if, the proposal goes before voters. Missouri banned almost all abortions immediately after the U.
S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022.
In response, a campaign to restore abortion access in the state is pushing a constitutional amendment that would guarantee a right to abortion. Courts have until Sept. 10 to make changes to the November ballot, Secretary of State's office spokesperson JoDonn Chaney said.
Facing the impending deadline, two Republican state lawmakers and a prominent anti-abortion leader last week sued to have the amendment thrown out. Thomas More Society Senior Counsel Mary Catherine Martin, who is representing the plaintiffs, in a statement said Ashcroft's office should never have allowed the amendment to go on November's ballot. She said the measure does not inform voters on the range of abortion regulations and laws that will be overturned if the amendment passes.
"It is a scorched earth campaign, razing our state lawbooks of critical protections for vulnerable women and children, the innocent unborn, parents, and any taxpayer who does not want their money to pay for abortion and other extreme decisions that this Amendment defines as ‘care,'" Martin said. Hearings in the case have not yet been scheduled. The abortion-rights campaign is also suing Ashcroft over how his.