Missouri secretary of state 'decertifies' reproductive rights amendment weeks after approving it

Even in deep red states like Kansas, there has been a major backlash against the overturning of Roe v. Wade with the U.S. Supreme Court's 2022 ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization.

Another state is Missouri, where reproductive rights activists have been promoting a ballot measure that, if approved, would legalize abortion statewide. But Republican Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft, according to the Missouri Independent, has "decertified" the measure — which reporter Anna Spoerre describes as "a move aimed at blocking it from appearing on the November ballot."

"Last month," Spoerre explains, "Ashcroft announced the reproductive-rights proposal would appear on the ballot as Amendment 3. But a Cole County judge on Friday, (September 6) ruled the amendment violated state law and shouldn't have been certified. That ruling is now before the Missouri Supreme Court, with a hearing scheduled Tuesday morning, (September 10) and a ruling expected quickly thereafter."

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Spoerre notes that the "deadline to remove a question from the ballot is also Tuesday."

In a brief filed with the Missouri Supreme Court, Ashcroft argued, "In further review in light of the circuit court’s judgment, the Secretary believes the amendment is deficient."

But pro-Amendment 3 activist Rachel Sweet said the group she has been working with, Missourians for Constitutional Freedom, is "confident the court will order the secretary of state to keep Amendment 3 on the ballot."

Spoerre explains, "The anti-abortion plaintiffs who challenged the legality of the amendment have argued that because the campaign behind the ballot measure didn't list the exact statutes that would be repealed on the initiative petition, the measure is invalid. Attorneys representing Missourians for Constitutional Freedom continue to argue that the measure, if passed, would not truly repeal any part of Missouri's constitution, but rather, supersede most of the current ban on the books."

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Read the Missouri Independent's full report at this link.