Missouri's Supreme Court heard arguments Tuesday over whether an abortion-rights amendment should go before voters this year.
The proposal to enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution is expected to widely undo the state's 2022 near-total abortion ban if passed. The state's highest court has mere hours Tuesday to issue what will likely be the final say on the measure before a deadline to make changes to the November ballot.
Mary Catherine Martin, a lawyer for a group of GOP lawmakers and abortion opponents suing to remove the amendment, told judges that Missouri's law requires petition signers "to be fully informed" and argued that the initiative petition "misled voters" by not listing all the laws restricting abortion that it would effectively repeal.
But removing the measure would step on Missouri voters' rights to sidestep the legislature and enact laws and constitutional amendments by the ballot, abortion-rights campaign lawyer Chuck Hatfield argued.
"The court will send a message today," Hatfield said, "about whether in our little corner of the democracy, the government will honor the will of the people or whether we will have it snatched away."
