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Missouri has one of the strictest abortion bans in the U.S. Abortion rights advocates hope to put forward a ballot initiative next year to take the issue directly to voters.
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A judge heard arguments over a series of proposed amendments to Missouri's constitution seeking to legalize abortion, this time over the ballot language proposed by Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft. The ACLU argued that Ashcroft's summary was biased against the amendments, like a "referee playing for one of the teams."
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The litigation asks a Cole County judge to reject the proposed constitutional amendments or rewrite the summary and fiscal note.
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As pro-choice advocates push for more reproductive rights, Republicans in Missouri and Ohio are undertaking attempts to thwart those efforts.
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The lawsuit from Republican lawmakers uses an argument from Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey that legalizing abortion will cost the state billions of dollars. State Auditor Scott Fitzpatrick concluded that reasoning has no merit, and the state supreme court rejected Bailey's attempt to interfere with the cost estimate.
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Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft wrote in the official ballot language for a proposed abortion rights amendment that it would “allow for dangerous, unregulated, and unrestricted abortions." The ACLU sued, saying that the description was "misleading" and unfairly biased against the initiative.
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The unanimous verdict was scathing in its assessment of Attorney General Andrew Bailey, who refused to sign off on the work of Auditor Scott Fitzpatrick. The court concluded that nothing in state law “gives the attorney general authority to question the auditor’s assessment of the fiscal impact of a proposed petition.”
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The attorney general's office refused to sign off on a proposed amendment that would add abortion rights to the Missouri constitution. Although the state auditor's fiscal note estimated minimal cost to the state, Andrew Bailey demanded that the auditor inaccurately increase the estimate by billions of dollars.
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Missouri was the first state to pass a near-total abortion ban after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. But advocates also say the decision has had spillover effects, sowing confusion over the legality of contraception and concern over doctors’ discretion to provide emergency care.
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In the ruling, a Cole County judge said that Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey had an "absolute absence of authority" in refusing to accept the state auditor's estimate for an abortion rights initiative petition and attempting to falsely inflate the cost. Bailey's office said it would appeal the decision.
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Proponents of an initiative petition seeking to enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution have been unable to begin collecting signatures because of a showdown between the attorney general and state auditor. In a lawsuit, Missouri ACLU claims that Attorney General Andrew Bailey has made an illegal effort to falsely increase the cost of the amendment.
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The ACLU filed a lawsuit after Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey attempted to convince the state auditor’s office to falsely increase the projected cost of the abortion amendment. Because Bailey refused to sign off on the fiscal note, the ballot summary can't be finalized — something that was supposed to be done by May 1.