In Fitz-James v. Ashcroft, (MO App., Oct. 31, 2023), a Missouri state appeals court agreed with a trial court that ballot summaries prepared by the Secretary of State for six different abortion rights initiative proposals were insufficient and unfair. Three of the offending summaries read as follows:
Do you want the Missouri Constitution to:
• allow for dangerous, unregulated, and unrestricted abortions, from conception to live birth, without requiring a medical license or potentially being subject to medical malpractice;
• nullify longstanding Missouri law protecting the right to life, including but not limited to partial-birth abortion;
• allow for laws to be enacted regulating abortion procedures after Fetal Viability, while guaranteeing the right of any woman, including a minor, to end the life of their unborn child at any time; and
• require the government not to discriminate against persons providing or obtaining an abortion, potentially including tax-payer funding.
The appeals court, with a few modifications, accepted the trial court's rewritten versions of the ballot summaries. For example, the appeals court prescribed the following rewrite for one of the proposals:
Do you want to amend the Missouri Constitution to:
• establish a right to make decisions about reproductive health care, including abortion and contraceptives, with any governmental interference of that right presumed invalid;
• remove Missouri’s ban on abortion;
• allow regulation of reproductive health care to improve or maintain the health of the patient;
• require the government not to discriminate, in government programs, funding, and other activities, against persons providing or obtaining reproductive health care; and
• allow abortion to be restricted or banned after Fetal Viability except to protect the life or health of the woman?
The Secretary of State issued a press release criticizing the decision and saying that he plans to appeal it. AP reports on the decision. (See prior related posting.) [Thanks to Thomas Rutledge for the lead.]
