JEFFERSON CITY, Missouri — A Missouri appeals court has again ordered significant revisions to ballot language for a Republican-backed initiative that seeks to repeal the abortion protections voters approved in 2024. The ruling marks the second time in recent months that the courts have found the state’s official summary for the 2026 measure misleading or unclear.
The measure aims to overturn Article I, Section 36 of the Missouri Constitution, which voters added last year to guarantee abortion rights through fetal viability and allow later-term procedures to protect a patient’s life or health. After the 2022 Dobbs decision triggered Missouri’s near-total abortion ban, advocates gathered enough signatures to put the 2024 initiative on the ballot — and it passed despite opposition from Republican leaders.
GOP lawmakers quickly advanced their own replacement proposal, HJR 73, set for a 2026 vote. But the ballot explanation drafted by Secretary of State Denny Hoskins was challenged for language that critics said could mislead voters into believing the measure expanded abortion access. A lower court approved Hoskins’s rewrite, but physician and 2024-initiative proponent Anna Fitz-James appealed with support from the ACLU.
The appeals court ruled Thursday that the explanation still failed to clearly inform voters that HJR 73 would repeal and replace the 2024 amendment. Judges certified new language instructing voters that the proposal would “repeal the 2024 voter-approved Amendment providing reproductive healthcare rights, including abortion through fetal viability.”
Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway praised the decision to keep the initiative on the ballot, while the ACLU said the ruling ensures voters understand the stakes.
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Sources:
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Missouri Courts Opinion – Unrated
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