Ashcroft says initiatives seek to ‘nullify Missouri laws protecting the right to life’

By Jason Hancock

Missouri Independent

Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft has completed work on ballot summaries for six proposed amendments to Missouri’s constitution, writing that the petitions would either “allow no excuse abortions” for up to 12 weeks or “nullify Missouri laws protecting the right to life.”

And Attorney General Andrew Bailey argued that if any of the amendments were approved by voters, legal costs would balloon in his office to $21 million because he would refuse to defend the provisions in court and would instead hire outside counsel.

Filed in August by Republican political operative Jamie Corley with assistance from Democratic attorney Chuck Hatfield, the initiative petitions are being pitched as a middle ground between the ban currently in place and more expansive proposals filed earlier this year by abortion-rights supporters.

Each version amendment says there must be a “compelling governmental interest” for abortion restrictions to be put in place. And every version would add exceptions to the state’s abortion ban for rape, incest, fatal fetal abnormalities and the health and safety of the mother.

But while some allow the legislature to regulate abortion after “fetal viability,” others draw the line at 24 weeks of gestation. Some versions make it clear the state can enact parental consent laws for minors seeking abortions. Others leave the topic out entirely.

Ashcroft’s summaries, which will appear on the ballot if proponents collect enough signatures to place one of the proposal before voters next year, each include some version of a bullet point declaring the amendment would “allow abortions at any age without government interference from conception to live birth in the case of rape or sexual assault.”

And each summary notes that the amendment would “limit criminal prosecution or civil penalty of any person who performs, assists or provides support to induce, seek or obtain an abortion in any state.”


New initiative petitions draw criticism from both sides of Missouri abortion debate





Corley said Friday morning that the campaign will make a decision next week about next steps for the initiative petitions, including whether to challenge the ballot summaries and fiscal notes in court.

Bailey, in arguing for the $21 million cost estimate, said if the amendment was approved by voters and resulted in any litigation his office will likely have to hire conflict counsel to represent the state. That’s because, Bailey said, he has “staked out a position strongly in favor of protecting the unborn, creating a positional conflict that is untenable for the Attorney General and would necessarily generate greater legal costs.”

Last month, a Cole County judge threw out Ashcroft’s summaries for a different abortion-rights initiative petition, calling his work misleading and unfair.

Ashcroft, who is also running for governor in the GOP primary, described those proposed constitutional amendments as allowing “dangerous and unregulated abortions until live birth.” The judge rewrote the summary to state that the amendments established the “right to make decisions about reproductive health care, including abortion and contraception.”

That ruling has been appealed.

In the aftermath of the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 decision overturning the constitutional right to the procedure, Missouri’s trigger law went into effect banning virtually all abortions. There are no exemptions for rape or incest, and opaque language around protections medical emergencies have resulted in confusion in the state’s medical community.

Ohio voters will decide this fall whether the right to an abortion should be added to the state constitution, and abortion could also be put before voters in 2024 in states including Arizona, Maryland, New York and South Dakota.