Pro-life Advocates Sue to Have Amendment 3 Removed from Ballot

August 30, 2024

Pro-life legislators and activists last Thursday filed a lawsuit asking a judge to block the pro-abortion Amendment 3 from the November 5 ballot. State Sen. Mary Elizabeth Coleman, state Rep. Hannah Kelly, pro-life activist Kathy Forck, and Marguerite Forrest, operator of a St. Louis County shelter for homeless pregnant women, contend that Amendment 3 violates the Missouri Constitution because it includes more than one subject. They also allege that the amendment did not follow the constitutional requirement to specify the laws and constitutional provisions that would be repealed if approved by voters. 

In a statement, the plaintiffs said Amendment 3 is a “direct threat to the lives of Missouri women by erasing the will of voters who chose to protect the safety of women and the child by electing strong pro-life leaders.” Mary Catherine Martin, Thomas More Senior Counsel, representing the plaintiffs, said, “The petition proposing Amendment 3 violated both state law and the Missouri Constitution, so the Secretary of State was wrong to certify it. Missouri’s laws require drafters to disclose the effects of initiative petitions on other laws and limit the effect of a proposed amendment to one subject, to protect Missouri voters from being defrauded by artfully drafting them into approving something that has hidden effects. Amendment 3 is rife with hidden effects.” 

More information on the lawsuit can be found here.