COLUMBIA, Mo. — A Missouri judge ruled Thursday that an anti-abortion GOP official used misleading language to summarize a ballot question designed to restore abortion rights in the state.
Cole County Circuit Judge Cotton Walker threw out a description of the amendment as written by the office of Republican Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft, an abortion opponent.
In his ruling, Walker said Ashcroft’s language was “unfair, insufficient, inaccurate and misleading.”
Walker wrote a new summary explaining to voters that the measure would remove Missouri’s abortion ban and allow abortion to be restricted or banned after fetal viability, with exceptions.
Missouri banned almost all abortions after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022.
Walker’s language also notes that the amendment would create a “constitutional right to make decisions about reproductive health care, including abortion and contraceptives.”
At least nine other states will consider constitutional amendments enshrining abortion rights this fall — Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Maryland, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada and South Dakota.
In Missouri, ballot language is displayed at polling centers to help voters understand the impact of voting “yes” or “no” on sometimes complicated ballot measures.
The summary that Ashcroft wrote said a “yes” vote on the proposal would enshrine “the right to abortion at any time of a pregnancy in the Missouri Constitution.”
“Additionally, it will prohibit any regulation of abortion, including regulations designed to protect women undergoing abortions and prohibit any civil or criminal recourse against anyone who performs an abortion and hurts or kills the pregnant women,” according to Ashcroft’s language.
The amendment itself states that “the government shall not deny or infringe upon a person’s fundamental right to reproductive freedom, which is the right to make and carry out decisions about all matters relating to reproductive health care, including but not limited to prenatal care, childbirth, postpartum care, birth control, abortion care, miscarriage care, and respectful birthing conditions.”
Assistant Attorney General Andrew Crane defended Ashcroft’s summary in court. He pointed to a clause in the amendment protecting “any person” from prosecution or penalties if they consensually assist a person exercising their right to reproductive freedom. Crane said if enacted, that provision would render any abortion regulations…
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