ACLU begins campaign to outlaw Missouri’s abortion ban

The American Civil Liberties Union held seven meetings across Missouri Sunday to launch their campaign to halt the state’s so-called ‘heartbeat bill,’ which bans most abortions after eight weeks of pregnancy.

One meeting was at Cafe Berlin in Columbia. Others were held in Springfield, St. Louis and other cities.

The campaign comes after the Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft denied the ACLU’s application to start an initiative petition, which would put the matter on a statewide ballot if they got enough signatures.

The organization sued the state last month over the denial, and the lawsuit is ongoing.

“Right now we cannot begin collecting signatures because a referendum petition is still tied up in court,” said Nicole Rainey, development director for the ACLU of Missouri, “but we believe that if we have six weeks we can collect 100,000 signatures across the state of Missouri.”

The ACLU has filed lawsuits in other states with similar abortion bans including Arkansas and Ohio.

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