Abortion Rights Ballot Nebraska and Missouri are facing legal challenges ahead of upcoming certification deadlines.
Missouri Judge Christopher Limbaugh issued a dissenting ruling Friday. Abortion Rights Ballot The state agreed to the lawsuit, which alleged that the petition violated state law by failing to provide voters with a list of Missouri laws that would be struck down, either directly or implicitly.
The purpose of the proposed measure is to enshrine the right to abortion in the state constitution and prohibit any government interference with abortion.
Missouri organizers working on the ballot measure are hoping to appeal Limbaugh’s injunction to the state Supreme Court on Tuesday. But Tuesday is also the deadline to change the ballot measure. If the court decides not to intervene, a preliminary injunction will be issued, officially canceling the ballot measure.
“The court’s decision to block the Third Amendment from being placed on the ballot is an incredible injustice to the initiative petition process and undermines the rights of the 380,000 Missourians who signed a petition asking for input on this important issue,” Rachel Sweet, campaign manager for Constitutional Freedoms for Missourians, said in a statement.
In Missouri, abortion is illegal, except in cases involving the life or health of the mother.
In Nebraska, where abortion is banned for 12 weeks, two competing abortion petitions were set to be presented to voters this November, but it is currently unclear whether voters will have both options.
One measure provides a fundamental right to abortion until the fetus is viable, but faces legal challenges over whether this satisfies the single-subject requirement.
The contested ballot measure would ban abortion in the second and third trimesters “except when the woman seeks an abortion for a medical emergency or when the pregnancy results from sexual assault or incest.”
On Monday, the Nebraska Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the case.
“We believe that the Rights Amendment clearly qualifies for the single-subject matter test. We believe that the Limited Amendment probably would as well, consistent with this Court’s precedent. However, if the Court were to apply a more stringent and focused approach to the single-subject matter test, as the plaintiffs have argued in prior cases, we believe that the Limited Amendment would fail that test far, far ahead of the Rights Amendment,” attorney David Gasiochi argued.
The deadline to certify ballots in Nebraska is September 13.
Abortion has become a powerful political issue since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in its Dobbs decision. Termination of Federal Protections for Procedures It made this a national issue.
Statewide ballot measures supporting the procedure have since been successful, and a similar measure could appear this November. Before Arizona votersNevada, FloridaSouth Dakota, Colorado, New York, Maryland and Montana.
Democrats have united behind abortion rights, and the fight for reproductive freedom has become a central theme of Vice President Kamala Harris’s campaign.
During the campaign, Harris repeatedly said former President Donald Trump would sign a nationwide abortion ban. Trump has argued that he supports leaving the issue to the states, calling Florida’s six-week ban “too short,” but has announced that he plans to vote against a ballot measure that would ban restrictions on abortion until the fetus is viable.
