Americans United and its allies moved to dismiss a lawsuit challenging Missouri’s restrictive abortion laws after voters in the state approved a referendum enshrining reproductive rights in the state constitution.
A motion was filed with the Missouri Supreme Court requesting the appeal in the case, Rev. Traci Blackmon v. State of Missouri, be dismissed because the result of the vote on Amendment 3 invalidates the abortion ban.
The lawsuit, filed in January 2023, alleged that Missouri’s total abortion ban and other related restrictions violate the state constitution by enshrining lawmakers’ personal religious beliefs about abortion in House Bill No. 126 and Senate Bill 5. One of the provisions of H.B. 126 was a “trigger ban” that prohibited all abortions following the U.S. Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade on June 24, 2022.
Missouri lawmakers wrote their religious beliefs into the abortion ban.
In passing the legislation, Missouri lawmakers openly and repeatedly emphasized they were writing their religious beliefs into the abortion bans, even declaring in the language of a statute that “Almighty God is the author of life” — a phrase that an opposing lawmaker noted was “in violation of the separation of church and state.”
Thirteen clergy plaintiffs challenged the ban in court. They were represented by a legal team that included Americans United, the National Women’s Law Center and Missouri civil rights lawyer Denise Lieberman.
On Nov. 5, Missourians voted to protect the right to abortion in the state constitution, with 51.6% backing the measure. In the wake of the vote, abortion clinics reopened in Missouri, and the lawsuit became moot.
“Challenging Missouri’s abortion ban was an expression of my faith, which calls us to defend the dignity and autonomy of all people,” said the Rev. Traci Blackmon, lead plaintiff in the case. “We aren’t truly free unless we can control our own bodies, lives, and futures.”
Rachel Laser, president and CEO of Americans United, hailed the result.
“Americans United is proud to have represented these faith leaders and to be part of the broader effort to restore abortion access in Missouri,” Laser said. “Even as we celebrate this victory for the people of Missouri, abortion rights and church-state separation, we know the fight for equity and bodily autonomy is not over. We are committed to ensuring that everyone has the freedom to make their own decisions about their own bodies based on their own beliefs. Church-state separation and religious freedom require reproductive freedom.”