Judge stays injunction to remove Amendment 3 from ballot, pending Sept. 10 deadline for appeal
UPDATE (Sept. 9): The Missouri Supreme Court has scheduled a hearing on Amendment 3 for 8:30 a.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 10.
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – A Missouri judge ruled on Friday evening, Sept. 6, that pro-abortion advocates who led the petition process for Amendment 3, which aims to codify expansive abortion rights within the Missouri Constitution, didn’t follow state law. The decision leaves open the possibility that Amendment 3 could be stricken from Missouri ballots.
The Missouri Secretary of State’s office announced, Aug. 13, that pro-abortion advocates had gathered enough signatures to present their proposed state constitutional Amendment 3 to voters during the Nov. 5 general election.
But, in a lawsuit filed on Aug. 22, Thomas More Society attorneys challenged the inclusion of Amendment 3 on the November ballot. The lawsuit alleges that the initiative petition was erroneously certified by Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft’s office because it runs afoul of the Missouri Constitution and state statutes.
According to Thomas More Society attorneys, Amendment 3 would repeal essentially all of Missouri’s state statutes and constitutional provisions regulating reproductive care and technologies, including all existing regulation of abortion, cloning, IVF for stem cell research, gender transition surgery, and genital mutilation.
By failing to specify the provisions that it would repeal, these attorneys argued, the initiative petition leading to proposed Amendment 3 violated state law. In particular, Missouri Revised Statute Section 116.050 requires that signers of an initiative petition be informed of “[t]he full and correct text” of the initiative, which must “[i]nclude all sections of existing law or of the Constitution which would be repealed by the measure.” (Read more about the lawsuit here.)
In his Sept. 6th ruling, Cole County Circuit Judge Christopher Limbaugh agreed that the initiative petition leading to Amendment 3 didn’t abide by Missouri law, since it failed—as reported in the Missouri Independent—“to include any statue or provision that will be repealed, especially when many of these statutes are apparent.”
However, Limbaugh temporarily stayed an injunction that would pull Amendment 3 from the Missouri ballot, giving pro-abortion advocates until Tuesday, Sept. 10, to appeal his ruling.
According to the Missouri Independent, the “constitutional deadline for ballots to be printed is Tuesday,” Sept. 10.
Pro-life advocates within the state applauded Limbaugh’s ruling and are calling Missouri Baptists to pray that Amendment 3 will ultimately be pulled from Missouri ballots this November. In the meantime, they are calling Missouri Baptists to remain watchful by preparing to oppose Amendment 3 should it remain on the ballot.