Missouri Appeals Court Rejects Republican-Written Abortion Ballot Summaries as Politically Partisan; Secretary of State to Appeal Ruling

Appeals court condemns language used in describing abortion-rights amendments as letting “dangerous and unregulated abortions until live birth” as politically skewed, while approving impartial revisions by a lower court. Future decision potential for appeal by Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft who is also 2024 gubernatorial candidate.

The Missouri appeals court has ruled against Republican-written summaries of several abortion-rights amendments, finding the descriptions that depicted the amendments as enabling 'dangerous and unregulated abortions until live birth' politically partisan.
The summaries in question were authored by Republican Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft, who is also a gubernatorial candidate for 2024.
The judges mostly affirmed summaries that had been revised by a lower court judge to be more impartial. The new summaries would tell voters that the amendments would establish a right to make reproductive health care decisions, including those about abortion and contraception, and remove Missouri’s abortion ban.
Ashcroft strongly disagrees with the ruling and plans to appeal, standing by his original language which he argues 'fairly and accurately reflects the scope and magnitude of each petition.'
The ruling was applauded by abortion-rights proponents, with the ACLU of Missouri stating that 'the courts upheld Missourians’ constitutional right to direct democracy over the self-serving attacks of politicians desperately seeking to climb the political ladder.'