Missouri ACLU sues secretary of state, claims ballot language on abortion question ‘misleading’
Nia Hinson
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
The Missouri ACLU is asking a judge to keep an abortion question off of next year’s ballot, or certify new and fair ballot language.
A lawsuit filed on Wednesday against Missouri Secretary of State Denny Hoskins alleges Hoskins approved an “intentionally misleading and inaccurate summary” for a measure that would overturn Amendment 3.
The Missouri senate forced a vote in May approving HJR 73. Voters approved Amendment 3, which established reproductive health care — including abortion — as a constitutional right in this past’s November’s election. The approval of the measure means it will appear on next year’s ballot as Amendment 3.
The lawsuit–petitioned by Anna Fitz-James — lays out three specific counts that HJR 73 allegedly violates.
It claims the measure contains several matters not connected to reproductive health care, uses language which is intentionally argumentative and fails to tell voters what a “yes” and “no” vote means.
“What the constitution requires is that an amendment can only deal with one single subject,” Director of litigation for the Freedom Center of Missouri Dave Roland said. Because the proposal addresses things like transgender health care, surgical procedures and the use of puberty blockers, the plaintiffs here are saying that’s not part of the definition of reproductive health care.”
Roland said the lawsuit also brings up the fact that when the attorney general participates in certain challenges that it deals with court proceedings– rather than reproductive health care– making it improperly apart of the amendment.
The lawsuit also claims the measure fails to tell voters it would eliminate prenatal, childbirth, postpartum, care, birth control, as well as protection against prosecution for physicians who help people receive care. It also alleges the measure claims it changes the law when it does not.
“Less than six months after we voted to end Missouri’s abortion ban and protect reproductive freedom, politicians chose to ignore the will of the people so they can reinstate their ban on abortion,” Director of Policy and Campaigns at the ACLU of Missouri Tori Schafer said in a news release Wednesday. “Amendment 3, passed as HJR 73, is a copy and paste bill from special interest groups that will abolish our constitutional right to reproductive freedom, including access to abortion care.”
The lawsuit requests that a court declare the amendment’s summary statement insufficient and to certify a new, summary statement for voters, or to declare it in violation of the state Constitution and deny it from being placed on any ballot.
Roland said it’s unlikely that a court will change the summary statement or ballot language of this particular proposal, although it has been done in the past.
“We did see that when it came to the former amendment 3 that was voted on last year. The secretary of state had drafted a summary statement or a ballot title that was not unfair, it was pretty clearly biased and so the courts had to go back and correct it,” Roland said. “But the bottom line is, courts do not like to weigh in on these issues because they are so intrinsically political and courts don’t like to deal with things that are political. They like to deal with things that are black and white, not subjective.”
The Missouri Supreme Court ended a ruling that stopped the enforcement of state abortion regulations in May.
The ACLU declined an interview. Hoskins’ office declined to comment on pending litigation.