Jefferson City, Mo. – The ACLU of Missouri is taking legal action against the Attorney General, the Secretary of State, and the State Auditor as they have missed the deadline to post the ballot summaries and titles for the reproductive rights initiative petitions.
Obtained documents reveal that Attorney General Andrew Bailey, in an unprecedented effort, is abusing the authority of his office to coerce the elected State Auditor to submit a fiscal note summary that contains inaccurate information.
In response to the Attorney General’s multiple attempts to unjustifiably inflate the fiscal note, State Auditor Scott Fitzpatrick said, “To submit a fiscal note summary that I know contains inaccurate information would violate my duty as State Auditor to produce an accurate fiscal note summary.”
“The unilateral actions of the unelected attorney general to hold hostage the people’s constitutional right to the initiative process is an attempt to subvert direct democracy to prevent Missourians from voting on the fundamental right to reproductive freedom,” said Anthony Rothert, Director of Integrated Advocacy at the ACLU of Missouri. “It serves as a reminder that Bailey is not the Auditor, has no expertise in matters of accounting or auditing and, more importantly, lacks any authority to indefinitely withhold approval of the fiscal note summary to deny a vote on an issue. He is out-of-touch with voters.”
The ACLU of Missouri filed a verified petition for writ of mandamus and declaratory judgement seeking the court to declare the Attorney General’s actions unlawful and unconstitutional and require the Secretary of State to certify a ballot title, which would allow proponents to begin to collect signatures. Under Missouri law, signatures collected before the Secretary of State certifies a ballot title do not count. Statutes assign to the Auditor the duty to prepare the fiscal note summary portion of the ballot title.
The proposed initiatives were submitted by a retired physician on behalf of a Missouri grassroots group known as Missourians for Constitutional Freedom.
“Missourians want the right to make personal decisions about reproductive health care – including prenatal care, childbirth, postpartum care, birth control, abortion care, and miscarriage care – free from government interference,” said Tori Schafer, Deputy Director of Policy and Campaigns at the ACLU of Missouri. “These pragmatic proposals would restore the promise of Roe v. Wade, prevent health care providers from becoming criminals and protect Missourians from the current, life-threatening government ban on abortion.”
Each of the proposed initiatives would provide families with prenatal and childbirth care, postpartum care, birth control, abortion care, miscarriage care and respectful birthing conditions while protecting both patients and medical providers from penalties for seeking or providing necessary care.
Court Filings:
Verified petition for writ of mandamus and declaratory judgement
Suggestions in Support of Writ of Mandamus and Injunctive Relief
Read the ballot petition proposals below.