JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — The Missouri Supreme Court on Tuesday tossed two laws that it said stymied efforts by abortion rights activists to put the state's strict new abortion law to a public vote in 2019.
The laws prevented organizers from gathering signatures to secure a place on the ballot until Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft fulfilled requirements such as preparing a title and 100-word summary of the measure. The court ruled in a 5-2 decision that those regulations allow delays that infringe on the public's right under the state constitution to use the referendum to revoke statutes by popular vote.
Missouri lawmakers passed the abortion law, criminalizing the procedure at eight weeks of pregnancy with no exceptions for cases of rape or incest, on the last day of the legislative session in 2019.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Missouri and a coalition of abortion rights groups called No Bans on Choice filed a referendum petition to revoke it.
Ashcroft initially rejected the petition over other legal technicalities, then was ordered to accept it by a court. By the time he signed off on all the other requirements, there were only two weeks left before the law went into effect to gather the required 100,000 signatures. The Missouri constitution allows 90 days after a legislative session ends to collect the signatures.
He denied at the time that his anti-abortion views led him to "run out the clock" on the petition. Attorneys for his office argued before the Supreme Court that the requirements were reasonable regulation of the petition process.
Ashcroft said in a statement through his spokesman that his office will follow the ruling.
"My office followed the law — we did not act unconstitutionally," he said. "Now, it has been adjudicated unconstitutional — and we will, again, follow the law."
In addition to a ballot summary, the requirements the court rejected included the 15-day public comment period, fiscal review by the state auditor and scrutiny of the ballot language by the attorney general. Together, they could take as many as 51 days to complete, which the Supreme Court noted could eat up more than half of the legally allotted 90-day signature period.
That allows lawmakers to lessen the chances of a voters' referendum succeeding, the judges wrote, if they wait to pass controversial bills until the end of the session.
"The Missouri Constitution guarantees the right of referendum to all Missouri citizens, not just those capable of raising the necessary funds to complete a signature-collection effort within the tightest of timeframes," Judge Mary Russell wrote for the majority.
Judge Brent Powell dissented, writing that the court should not broadly invalidate regulations that do not always guarantee that the activists' campaign would be impeded.
The abortion law itself is not yet in effect. It has been blocked from enforcement since 2019 by the federal courts in a lawsuit brought by the state's sole abortion provider. The 8th Circuit Court of Appeals is currently weighing whether to lift the injunction.
Ashcroft and other Republicans are attempting to tighten requirements for signature-gathering and other parts of the ballot measure process that would make proposals harder to pass on a statewide vote.
