The ACLU of Missouri is counting on a Cole County Judge to pick up where it believes Missouri’s Secretary of State has fallen short of protecting the initiative process.
“Voters are entitled to rely on a ballot title summary statement that is neutral and, without argumentative language, concisely and clearly describes the purpose of the proposition,” said Tom Bastian, deputy director for ACLU of Missouri Communications. “It was the Secretary’s duty to set aside his bias against the proposals and craft a neutral statement.”
As previously reported in the St. Louis Record, Dr. Anna Fitz James sued Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft alleging that the way he summarized pro-abortion ballot petition initiatives made the service appear radical and risky.
“He has done so by deploying incendiary adjectives and other argumentative and misleading language to mischaracterize the initiatives and trick Missourians into opposing them,” wrote ACLU of Missouri Anthony E. Rothert in his Sept. 1 trial brief. “The initiatives simply restore the right of individuals, families, and their physicians to make medical decisions.”
For example, one of the six summary statements asks whether voters want to amend the Missouri Constitution to allow for dangerous, unregulated, and unrestricted abortions from conception to live birth and nullify longstanding Missouri law protecting the right to life, including but not limited to partial-birth abortion.
“First it was the Attorney General’s failed attempt to deny Missourians’ the right to vote by holding the ballot certification process hostage," Bastian said in a statement emailed to the St. Louis Record. "Now, we have a Secretary of State, two elected officials, and a special interest group trying to subvert democracy through deceptive and coarse language.”
The Right to Life of the Unborn Child Act, which became effective on June 24, 2022, prohibits abortion except in cases of medical emergency and imposes a Class B felony on any person who knowingly performs or induces an abortion of an unborn child. Providers of abortion are also subject to losing their medical licenses under the law.
But if approved by voters, the reproductive rights ballot initiative will legalize abortion once again.
“Dr. Anna Fitz-James filed these petitions to give the people of Missouri the choice that the overzealous politicians never did, and in fact, continue to fight to deny,” Bastian said.
Cole County Circuit Court Judge Jon. E Beetem is expected to rule on the issue after hearing oral arguments this week.
“The right to make decisions about reproductive health care is not explicit in our constitution, so any one of the proposed measures will provide us greater independence from the government than we have ever enjoyed,” Bastian added.