MO Amendment 3 decertified, setting up Supreme Court showdown [Video]

Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft decertified Amendment 3 from the November election ballot on Monday. The amendment, if passed, would provide constitutional protection for abortion in Missouri. In decertifying the amendment, Ashcroft cited a lower court’s ruling on a suit that was issued late Friday out of Cole County, saying the amendment was invalid because it did not include which laws would be repealed if passed.The decertification sets Amendment 3 up for a state supreme court showdown with a tight turnaround – the deadline to place a measure on the absentee ballot before printing in Missouri comes at 5 p.m. Tuesday. Backers of the amendment argue it would not repeal laws but instead create a new law and supersede much of the original legislation on the books. Thomas More Society attorney Mary Catherine Martin on Friday argued that the campaign to restore abortion rights in Missouri drafted an amendment …