Missouri Secretary of State Denny Hoskins must try again to write ballot language for a proposed constitutional amendment that would ban most abortions, a Cole County judge ruled Tuesday.
Circuit Judge Daniel Green, in his second ruling on the ballot description of the measure proposed by lawmakers, said that Hoskins got most of the language right.
But Hoskins’ language on the portion that will be the issue the question turns on — repealing the abortion rights protections approved by voters last year — is “insufficient and unfair” and must be revised, Green ruled.
Hoskins rewrote the ballot language prepared by Republican lawmakers after Green ruled it, also, did not alert voters that it would repeal the voter-approved amendment.
The measure would repeal the citizen-led initiative passed in 2024 that made Missouri the first state to overturn an abortion ban by guaranteeing the constitutional right to abortion up to the point of fetal viability.
On Wednesday, Green ruled that Hoskins also missed the mark by failing to inform voters of the repeal, taking issue with just one bullet point in Hoskins’ summary that reads:
“Shall the Missouri Constitution be amended to:
- Amend Article I, section 36, approved in 2024; allowing abortions for medical emergencies, fetal anomalies, rape, and incest;”
This summary “fails to adequately alert voters that the proposed constitutional amendment would abrogate Article 1, Section 36 of the Missouri Constitution, which voters recently approved,” Green wrote.
Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway’s Office in briefings submitted Monday said Hoskins’ latest language was sufficient because it stated the new amendment would cause a “modification” of state statute and that repeal language would be inaccurate because the new amendment “does not abolish all the constitutional rights first enshrined in Article I, section 36,” including the right to miscarriage care.
For example, the attorney general wrote, the new amendment “recognizes a right to abortion in some cases, and such a right was unprecedented in the Missouri Constitution before the voters enacted Article I, section 36 in 2024.”
Prior to the passage of the abortion rights amendment, nearly all abortions were illegal in Missouri, with limited exceptions for medical emergencies.
Attorneys with The ACLU of Missouri and Stinson Law in briefings Monday said Hoskins’ new language “at best, pays lip service” to Green’s order but “does not describe the probable effects of the measure.”
Hoskins is obligated, they argued, “to tell voters that they are being asked to repeal, not merely amend, the right to reproductive freedom.”
Jefferson City attorney Chuck Hatfield, in his filing, also took issue with the use of a semi-colon in the statement, saying it contributes to the “grammatical nonsense” of the language sure to leave voters confused.
Green on Tuesday ruled that the remaining bullet points are now acceptable. They read:
“Shall the Missouri Constitution be amended to:
- Guarantee women’s medical care for emergencies, ectopic pregnancies, and miscarriages;
- Ensure women’s safety during abortions;
- Ensure parental consent for minors;
- and Prohibit sex-change procedures for children?”
Under a law passed this year and upheld in a separate case by Green, Hoskins has five days to submit revised ballot language to the court. If after that, Green decides the language still doesn’t follow the law, Hoskins has one more opportunity to rewrite it. If Green still doesn’t find the language satisfactory, the judge will rewrite it himself.
Hoskins was also responsible for writing the fair ballot statement that appears in polling places and on the office’s website that summarize what both a “yes” and “no” vote mean.
Green previously told Hoskins to rewrite the “fair ballot language” summary posted to the secretary of state’s website, calling the old language misleading for also failing to state abortion would be banned in most cases.
In his ruling Tuesday, Green deemed the new summary was sufficient.
This approved summary states that a “yes” vote would guarantee women’s medical care under specific scenarios, including ectopic pregnancies and miscarriages and allow abortions in the first 12 weeks festation in cases of rape or incest. It would also ban gender-affirming health care for minors.
A “no” vote, Hoskins wrote, would “limit abortion” to specific scenarios.
As the one-year anniversary of the abortion rights amendment approaches, access to the procedure in Missouri remains limited as legal battles challenging a series of abortion regulations play out in the courts.
Medication abortions remain halted. Procedural abortions are available on a limited basis at Planned Parenthood clinics in Kansas City, Columbia and St. Louis.
This story was originally published by the Missouri Independent.
