Abortion access initiative one step closer to ballot after Cole County ruling
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ)
Missouri voters could decide whether to restore access to abortion after a Cole County ruling pushed an initiative petition one step closer to getting on the ballot.
Cole County Circuit Judge Jon Beteem ruled the attorney general must approve the fiscal note on a proposed initiative petition within 24 hours, allowing the petition to move forward.
An initiative petition on abortion access was stalled as the Attorney General Andrew Bailey and State Auditor Scott Fitzpatrick disagreed on the fiscal note for the bill. Because of this stalling, the ACLU filed a lawsuit asking the judge to force the certification process to move forward. Beteem ruled in favor of the ACLU.
"The process is supposed to take 54 days, it's taken over 100 days and this has never happened before," Tori Schafer, of ACLU Missouri, said.
Schafer said the ACLU does believe stalling the certification of the initiative petition was politically motivated.
"What the ruling said today, the attorney general went outside of his duties to prevent that process from happening," Schafer said. "And we are confident that we'll get certification from the Secretary of State soon and then we can move forward."
The initiative petition aims to codify abortion rights in the Missouri Constitution. There are 11 total rights it outlines, including access to abortion, birth control and miscarriage management. The petition also outlines parameters for each of those 11 rights.
Once the fiscal note is approved, the petition needs final certification from the Secretary of State and then it can go out for signatures. In order to be put on the ballot, the petition needs signatures from 5% of legal voters in six out of eight of the voting districts. More information about the initiative petition process can be found online.
When asked for a comment on the ruling, the Attorney General's Office told ABC 17 News it plans to appeal the decision.
"They can appeal as is their legal right," Schafer said. "We believe that this decision is correct and that the attorney general should have to do his part of the process. We're confident that the courts will uphold that because this ballot initiative process is our client's constitutional right, just as it is every Missourians constitutional right."
Republicans made initiative petition reform a priority for the past few legislative sessions, but never got a bill across the finish line. Currently, it takes a simple majority of voters for an initiative petition to pass. Republican bills would have changed that to 57% or more.
"I think abortion will be allowed because they'll put it on the ballot in a referendum, and if you don't pass IP (initiative petition) reform, it'll be 50% plus one. I don't believe in changing the Constitution that easily," Missouri House Speaker Rep. Dean Plocher (R-St. Louis County) said on the last day of this year's legislative session.
