Legislative attempts to restore access to abortion in Missouri are facing a new lawsuit brought by Republican state lawmakers over what they see as the cost such a move would bring to the state's finances.
The petition says that relaxing the state's current abortion ban would cost the state billions of dollars and local governments millions in losses, arguing that official cost estimates were too low—a claim that the state auditor has strongly rejected.
After the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, allowing states to set their own abortion restrictions, Missouri was among several to ban abortions except in cases of medical emergencies. Pregnancies as the result of rape and incest remain outlawed.
Abortion rights activists lobbied for a measure to be added to a ballot in 2024 which would amend the state's constitution to enshrine the right of individuals to reproductive care, allowing some form of abortion access to become legal.
It comes as residents of Ohio are set to vote in November in a referendum on whether abortion access should be enshrined in the constitution. Currently, access is limited to 22 weeks.
However, voters will first have to vote on Tuesday on another measure, brought by Republicans, on whether the threshold for a majority on constitutional matters should be raised to 60 percent from 50 percent.
The lawsuit in Missouri—filed by state representative Hannah Kelly and state senator Mary Elizabeth Coleman, as well as anti-abortion activist Kathy Forck—argues that if passed, the ballot measure would cost Missouri future tax revenue from the pregnancies that would have otherwise led to births.
"These future losses to Missouri from loss of population due to abortion are both absolutely certain (fewer citizens definitely means fewer future taxpayers and laborers) and potentially generational and infinite," it says.
The complaint seeks to challenge a financial assessment of the cost of the ballot measure by State Auditor Scott Fitzpatrick, also a Republican and anti-abortion advocate, which estimated that it would have no cost to the state.
Missouri's attorney general, Andrew Bailey, was last month ordered by the state Supreme Court to approve the cost estimate so the measure could be added to November's ballot, after he too claimed the cost would be far higher.
"The proposed amendments would allow the destruction of thousands of pre-born Missouri citizens a year, with profound consequences to Missourians that far eclipse financial Concerns," the complaint read.
It adds: "As part of the initiative petition process, however, the State Auditor is legally tasked with the grim calculation of the financial costs to Missouri from this enormous human loss."
In a joint statement to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the three plaintiffs said that voters "deserve complete fairness and transparency on the impact of initiative petitions so they can make fully-informed decisions."
They added the legal challenge was "the omission of the true fiscal costs to individual Missourians with measures that could imperil their financial futures, and cost the state billions of dollars in health care funding."
However, the American Civil Liberties Union of Missouri responded to the lawsuit by telling multiple outlets that it was nothing more than "another attempt by power-obsessed politicians to prevent Missourians from voting on reproductive rights. The bogus lawsuit parrots the already court-rejected claims of the attorney general."
"My record of defending life throughout my time in public office could not be stronger," Fitzpatrick told Newsweek in a statement. "I am vehemently opposed to any effort to enshrine abortion rights in our constitution. I urge Missourians to not sign these petitions if asked, and I will campaign against any of them if they make it on the ballot."
He added: "However, I have a duty to the people of Missouri to put aside my personal beliefs and perform my duties as state auditor to provide a fair and unbiased cost estimate of every proposed initiative.
"While I would personally prefer to say these initiative petitions would cost the state billions of dollars per year, neither the information we received from state and local entities when preparing the fiscal note, or our own research, support that claim."
Update 08/09/23, 11:53 a.m. ET: This article was updated to include comment from Missouri State Auditor Scott Fitzpatrick.
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Aleks Phillips is a Newsweek U.S. News Reporter based in London. His focus is on U.S. politics and the environment. ... Read more
