Missouri abortion law leads to court battle over referendums
Associated Press— A Missouri law seeking to ban most abortions after eight weeks of pregnancy led to a legal battle Wednesday before the state’s highest court over whether the people’s right to overturn laws passed by the Legislature has been illegally limited by procedural hurdles. The case before the Missouri Supreme Court won’t ultimately affect the fate of the anti-abortion law — which currently is blocked by a separate federal court case — but could determine how easy or difficult it is for people to force a statewide vote on future laws they don’t like. The American Civil Liberties Union and the group No Bans No Choice challenged those laws after Republican Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft used much of the allotted time, leaving them little opportunity to gather enough signatures to force a referendum on the 2019 abortion law. Attorney Jason Lewis, who argued on behalf of Republican Attorney General Eric Schmitt, defended the laws as “reasonable regulations of the referendum process.” Schmitt’s office argued in court filings that the ballot title requirement “creates order and consistency, prevents voters from being confused or misled by complex bills, and promotes informed voter choices about whether to sign referendum proposals.” But the ACLU said in court filings that there is “conflict between the Constitution, which reserves a right of referendum to the people, and the two statutes, which curtail that right.” “The Legislature shouldn’t be given the tools to narrow or broaden that right beyond what the constitution provides,” said ACLU attorney Jessie Steffan, of St. Louis.