Missouri judge rejects secretary of state’s ‘problematic’ summary of abortion initiative petitions

“A Cole County judge rewrote the ballot titles for six initiative petitions seeking to enshrine the right to abortion in the Missouri Constitution, ruling that 13 phrases in the summaries written by Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft are “argumentative” or unfairly biased.

In a ruling issued Monday morning, Circuit Judge Jon Beetem wrote that the summaries crafted by Ashcroft completely ignored the initiative proposals’ protections for contraceptives and other reproductive health needs….”