Missouri judge strikes down ballot summary for anti-abortion measure
backed by Republican lawmakers
[September 20, 2025]
By DAVID A. LIEB
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — A Missouri judge has struck down a ballot
summary for an anti-abortion amendment backed by Republican state
lawmakers while concluding that it presented an unfair and insufficient
description to voters.
Cole County Circuit Judge Daniel Green ruled Friday that the ballot
summary must be rewritten, but he rejected a request by abortion-rights
advocates to block the proposed constitutional amendment from going to
voters.
The judge said the summary prepared by Republican lawmakers failed to
inform voters that the new measure would repeal an abortion-rights
amendment adopted by voters last year. He directed the secretary of
state's office to write a new summary.
The ruling marks the latest in a series of twists and turns in
Missouri’s abortion policies over the past three years.
When the U.S. Supreme Court ended a nationwide right to abortion by
overturning Roe v. Wade in 2022, that triggered a Missouri law to take
effect banning abortions “except in cases of medical emergency.” But
abortion-rights activists then gathered initiative petition signatures
to put their own measure on the ballot.
Last November, Missouri voters narrowly approved a constitutional
amendment guaranteeing a right to abortion until fetal viability,
generally considered sometime past 21 weeks of pregnancy. That measure,
known as Amendment 3, also allows later abortions to protect the life or
health of pregnant women and creates a “fundamental right to
reproductive freedom” that includes birth control, prenatal and
postpartum care and “respectful birthing conditions.”
In May, the Republican-led Legislature shut down Democratic opposition
and approved a new referendum that would repeal Amendment 3 and instead
allow abortions only for a medical emergency or fetal anomaly, or in
cases of rape or incest up to 12 weeks of pregnancy. That proposed
amendment also would prohibit gender transition surgeries, hormone
treatments and puberty blockers for minors, which already are barred
under state law.
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Participants in the Midwest March for Life walk through the streets
of Jefferson City, Mo., in front of the state Capitol on May 1,
2025. (AP Photo/David A. Lieb, File)
 Abortion-rights advocates had argued
in a lawsuit that the entire measure should be stricken, alleging
that the combination of abortion and transgender policies violated a
constitutional requirement that amendments contain only one subject.
But Green agreed with Republican lawmakers that both topics fit
under the measure's title of “reproductive health care.”
The court order provided both sides an opportunity to claim victory.
Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway's office said in a
statement that the court upheld “the central constitutional issues.”
Tori Schafer, director of policy and campaigns at the ACLU of
Missouri, said abortion-rights advocates are “pleased that the judge
saw through the legislature’s deceitful language” in the ballot
summary.
Both the attorney general's office and Republican state Rep. Brian
Seitz, who championed the latest measure, said they are confident in
Republican Secretary of State Denny Hoskins' ability to revise the
ballot summary.
If it’s a simple wording change, “I think we would be fine with
that, because we do want the Missouri voters to know what they are
voting on,” Seitz said Friday.
The proposed amendment will appear on the November 2026 ballot,
unless Republican Gov. Mike Kehoe schedules the vote for sooner. The
new measure is slated to be listed as Amendment 3 — the same number
as the original abortion amendment.
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