A proposed constitutional amendment to restore many abortions in Missouri is back on the November election ballot. The State Supreme Court reversed today a lower court ruling that said Amendment 3 is “in blatant violation” of state law because it does not say what laws would be repealed if voters approve the measure.
Attorney Mary Catherine Martin argued for two Republican lawmakers and anti-abortion activists, saying a Cole County Circuit Court had it right.
“They avoided mentioning cloning, and they avoided mentioning in vitro fertilization, though they are legally, quite clearly, just as much all matters relating to reproductive health care as abortion,” Martin said at a Tuesday hearing.
Attorney Chuck Hatfield represented Missourians for Constitutional Freedom, the group that sponsored Amendment 3.
“This is a big deal,” he said at Tuesday’s court hearing. “The court will send a message about whether, in our little corner of the democracy, the government will honor the will of the people, or whether we’ll have it snatched away.”
The ruling comes in the nick of time – the deadline to remove initiatives from the November ballot is 5 p.m. today.
The only abortions currently allowed in Missouri are in cases where the mother’s life is in danger.
Under Amendment 3, the proposal would allow abortion but also give state lawmakers some say in regulating abortion after the point in a pregnancy when the fetus is likely to survive outside of the uterus. Fetal survivability is around six months. There would be exceptions for the life, mental and physical health of the mother regardless of fetal survivability.
By Marshall Griffin and Alisa Nelson
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