Opinion Letter No. 105-2008
Topics:
INITIATIVE PETITION.
INITIATIVES.
Summary conclusion
Review and approval of a summary statement prepared pursuant to Section 116.334, RSMo 2000, regarding an initiative petition to amend the Revised Statutes of Missouri by adding a new act to be known as the Prevention of Coerced and Unsafe Abortions Act.
Contents of letter
February 15, 2008
Honorable Robin Carnahan
Missouri Secretary of State
James C. Kirkpatrick State Information Center
600 West Main Street
Jefferson City, MO 65101
Dear Secretary Carnahan:
This office received your letter of February 7, 2008, submitting a proposed summary statement prepared under Section 116.334, RSMo, for the petition submitted by Paula Talley on January 18, 2008. The proposed summary statement is as follows:
Shall Missouri law be amended to:
- make it illegal for a doctor to provide a woman with an abortion at any time during her pregnancy without extensive and documented emotional, psychological, physical, situational, and demographic evaluations unless the doctor determines that the procedure is necessary to prevent imminent death or serious medical risk; and
- make it illegal for any person, other than a licensed physician or licensed pharmacist acting with a prescription, to assist a woman to terminate her own pregnancy and allow lawsuits with minimum damages of $800,000, plus attorney’s fees, regardless of any proof of injury?
Pursuant to Section 116.334, we approve the legal content and form of the proposed statement. Because our review of the statement is mandated by statute, no action that we take with respect to such review should be construed as an endorsement of the petition, nor as the expression of any view regarding the objectives of its proponents.
Very truly yours,
JEREMIAH W. (JAY) NIXON
Attorney General