Great Plains Planned Parenthood CEO Emily Wales said she was in "shock" on Friday when a Cole County judge ordered Amendment 3 to be taken off Missouri's November ballot.
Amendment 3 would enshrine the right to an abortion in the Missouri constitution, essentially reversing the state's ban. The group Missourians for Constitutional Freedom had collected enough signatures for the measure to qualify for the proposed amendment to appear before voters in the general election.
However, anti-abortion activists and legislators sued to remove the measure only nine days before ballots were set to be printed, arguing that the amendment violated state law by failing to list each potential law that could be affected by its passage.
Wales was not only surprised because of the last-minute verdict removing the amendment, but because of its implications for future ballot initiatives, where petitioners would “put in a position where you have to identify every possible statute that would or could be affected by a new constitutional right." She said that the precedent is “an impossible standard, and it just doesn't go with how the system works.”
But backers of the amendment appealed, and on Tuesday, the Missouri Supreme Court overturned the judge's decision and restored Amendment 3 to the ballot — just hours before the state's printing deadline.
“The crux of the question was whether or not this amendment would truly repeal Missouri's current abortion ban," says Anna Spoerre, a reproductive health care reporter for the Missouri Independent who covered this case.
Wales says that advocates felt “tremendous relief” after the ruling, for both the future of abortion access and for “Missourians being able to say exactly what's in their own constitution.”
Even with Amendment 3 headed to voters, Spoerre says the legal issue is far from settled.
“I think that after the election, we can expect legal fights from both sides," Spoerre said. "Missourians for Constitutional Freedom has said it's going to take litigation to really define what this amendment does.”
- Emily Wales, CEO, Planned Parenthood Great Plains
- Anna Spoerre, reproductive health care reporter, Missouri Independent
