Missouri’s Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that a proposed amendment to the state constitution concerning abortion rights will be put to a vote in November.
The decision will allow voters to decide whether to legalize abortion in Missouri for the first time in more than two years.
The state passed a “trigger” law in 2022 that effectively banned abortion after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled to override federal rights.
The ruling in Missouri overturned a lower court’s decision last week to remove the amendment following a lawsuit by anti-abortion activists.
Missouri is one of the states in the US with the strictest abortion laws. There is currently a total ban on abortion, except in certain medical emergencies.
This makes it one of nine states where abortion rights will be voted on in November at the same time as the election of the next president.
The decision was made just hours before the deadline for changing the ballot paper for the parliamentary election.
“All necessary steps” must be taken to ensure that Amendment 3 is placed on the ballot, the court decision states.
Mary Catherine Martin, an attorney for the Thomas More Society, the group that filed the lawsuit against the measure, told the judges on Tuesday that the wording of Amendment 3 would “absolutely mislead” voters.
“The average voter reading this has no way of knowing that this will have a limiting effect” on the state legislature’s ability to regulate abortion, Ms. Martin said, according to a Washington Post report.
The measure, which would protect abortion rights in Missouri until the fetus is viable, came after organizers collected more than 250,000 signatures on the petition, which the Secretary of State’s office reviewed last month.
However, the request by anti-abortion activists to repeal the amendment was accepted Friday by Cole County Circuit Court Judge Christopher Limbaugh, who agreed that the bill did not include a list of existing laws that would be repealed if passed.
The group Missourians for Constitutional Freedom, which supports the measure, appealed the ruling over the weekend.
State law requires the proposal to be supported by at least 50% of voters to pass. According to a St. Louis University/YouGov poll in August, the proposal received support from 52% of voters.
