Third abortion law referendum blocked by Sec. of State Ashcroft
Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft rejected a third referendum petition Tuesday afternoon, just as a pair of lawsuitS on the first two were being heard in Cole County court.
A Cole County judge will decide whether Ashcroft was on proper legal grounds when he quashed the first two referendum petitions Thursday.
The petitions would have seen Missouri’s newly signed law that bans abortions after eight weeks of pregnancy halted until a statewide vote is held on the matter in 2020.
Ashcroft cited a section of the bill that contains an emergency clause as the reason that the entire bill is exempt from the constitutional right to a public referendum.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Missouri, the group that launched one of the referendum petitions, filed a lawsuit challenging that decision. Another lawsuit was filed by David Humphreys, the author of the other referendum petition that was rejected. Humphreys represents the Committee to Protect the Rights of Victims of Rape and Incest.
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Judge Daniel Green ordered the attorneys for the ACLU of Missouri and Humphreys to amend their cases and will hear them again on Monday at 1:30 p.m.
