State Supreme Court to rule on abortion initiative maneuver

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Missouri Supreme Court is set to hear arguments about whether Republican Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft used an unconstitutional set of laws last year to derail an effort to put the state’s new abortion restrictions on the ballot for a public vote. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that the case stems from a lower court ruling in December that Ashcroft should have given proponents more time to circulate their proposed ballot initiative. Ashcroft didn’t approve the referendum effort until mid-August, giving supporters two weeks to collect 100,000 signatures. The attorney general’s says the current deadlines are a needed guardrail for the initiative petition process. The arguments are set for Wednesday.