Judge considers bumping abortion-rights measure off Missouri ballot

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — A Missouri judge faces a Tuesday deadline to decide whether to take the rare step of pulling an abortion-rights amendment off the state’s November ballot.

Lawyers for abortion opponents during a Friday bench trial asked Cole County Associate Circuit Judge Christopher Limbaugh to strip the measure from the ballot.

He faces a tight deadline to rule because Tuesday is the deadline to make changes to Missouri ballots, and an appeal is likely.

Plaintiffs’ attorney Mary Catherine Martin on Friday argued that the campaign to restore abortion rights in Missouri drafted an amendment that is intentionally broad in order to trick voters into supporting it.

“They have not treated the voters with the respect that the Constitution requires,” Martin told reporters after the trial.

Missourians for Constitutional Freedom, the abortion-rights campaign, said the lawsuit is an attempt to block voters from enacting the amendment at the polls.

“Out-of-touch politicians and the special interest groups who hold influence over them are making a last-ditch effort to prevent Missourians from exercising their constitutional right to direct democracy,” lawyer Tori Schafer said.

<bsp-list-loadmore data-module="" class=«PageListStandardB» data-gtm-region=«RELATED COVERAGE» data-gtm-topic=«No Value» data-show-loadmore=«true» data-parsely-url=«https%3A%2F%2Fapi.parsely.com%2Fv2%2Frelated%3Fapikey%3Dapnews.com%26url%3Dhttps%3A%2F%2Fapnews.com%2Farticle%2Fabortion-missouri-constitutional-amendment-4f40c97177cdeaea6aec3fca59c2f99e%26limit%3D9%26respect_empty_results%3D1%26sort%3D_score%26pub_date_start%3D2024-07-23%26exclude%3Dsection%3APress%20Releases%26exclude%3Dtags%3ACelebrity%20Birthdays» data-parsely-title=«Related