Missouri Supreme Court puts pro-choice Amendment 3 back on November ballot

The Missouri Supreme Court held Tuesday that a sweeping pro-choice initiative may go before the voters in November, overruling a lower-court decision days earlier that had found the petition violated state law.
Chief Justice Mary Russell directed Attorney General John Ashcroft to place Amendment 3 on the Nov. 5 ballot after the majority voted to reverse the trial court, handing a victory to abortion-rights advocates just hours before the ballot-printing deadline.

“By a majority vote of this Court, the circuit court’s judgment is reversed,” she said, adding that opinions will follow.

Missourians for Constitutional Freedom, the pro-choice group that brought the initiative, cheered the court’s decision as a “victory for both direct democracy and reproductive freedom,” while the pro-life Thomas …