Abortion rights measure rushed to top Missouri court after ruling from Rush Limbaugh’s cousin

FILE - Missouri residents and pro-choice advocates react to a speaker during Missourians for Constitutional Freedom kick-off petition drive, Feb. 6, 2024, in Kansas City, Mo. Republican lawmakers voted, Thursday, Feb. 22, 2024, to make it harder to change the Missouri Constitution amid a campaign to restore abortion rights through an initiative petition. (AP Photo/Ed Zurga, File)

FILE – Missouri residents and pro-choice advocates react to a speaker during Missourians for Constitutional Freedom kick-off petition drive, Feb. 6, 2024, in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo/Ed Zurga, File)

The Missouri Supreme Court will decide whether a ruling by a judge — who is also a cousin to late conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh — striking down a ballot measure to enshrine abortion rights in the state will stand.

After Missouri Circuit Judge Christopher Limbaugh ruled late Friday that the ballot initiative known as Amendment 3 violated state law, the case bypassed Missouri’s court of appeals and headed straight to the state’s’ highest bench. Oral arguments are scheduled for 8:30 a.m. Tuesday — the same day ballots are supposed to be printed for absentee voters.

Missouri has a near-total ban on abortion that was put into place immediately after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022. A proposed ballot initiative known as “The Right to Reproductive Freedom Initiative” proposed revising Missouri’s constitution to protect abortion rights by including the following language:

The Government shall not deny or infringe upon a person’s fundamental right to reproductive freedom, which is the right to make and carry out decisions about all matters relating to reproductive health care, including but not limited to prenatal care, childbirth, postpartum care, birth control, abortion care, miscarriage care, and respectful birthing conditions.

The right to reproductive freedom shall not be denied, interfered with, delayed, or otherwise restricted unless the Government demonstrates that such action is justified by a compelling governmental interest achieved by the least restrictive means. Any denial, interference, delay, or restriction of the right to reproductive freedom shall be presumed invalid. For purposes of this Section, a governmental interest is compelling only if it is for the limited purpose and has the limited effect of improving or maintaining the health of a person seeking care, is consistent with widely accepted clinical standards of practice and evidence-based medicine, and does not infringe on that person’s autonomous decision-making.

More from Law&Crime: Justice Alito sets SCOTUS up for an abortion pill ruling that could be even more radical than overturning Roe v. Wade

Advocacy group Missourians for Constitutional Freedom produced more than 380,000 signatures from Missouri voters across the state in order to earn the measure a place on the ballot.

Since the Supreme Court’s ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, several states have begun the process of carrying out ballot measures that similarly protect abortion rights. The efforts have proven largely successful, even in conservative-leaning states such as Kansas and Kentucky.

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