Ashcroft Celebrated The Passage Of Missouri’s Total Abortion Ban After The Overturning Of Roe V. Wade And Said The No-Exceptions Law Was “Just The Beginning.” According to Ashcroft’s Twitter, “I could not be more grateful for Missouri becoming the first state to ban abortion in this country following the SCOTUS decision! May we continue to lead in the pro-life movement. This is just the beginning of our fight.” [Twitter, @JayAshcroftMO 6/30/22]
Ashcroft’s Campaign Reaffirmed His No-Exceptions Stance On Abortion After Mike Kehoe, A Primary Opponent, Signaled Some Openness To Amending The Law To Create Rape And Incest Exceptions. According to The Kansas City Star, “Missouri Lt. Gov. Mike Kehoe is open to amending the state’s near-total abortion ban to include exceptions for rape and incest if elected governor in 2024. ‘As governor and the father of three daughters, Kehoe would consider […] exceptions for rape, incest, and life of the mother.’ […] The lieutenant governor’s stance also contrasts with Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft, a Republican who jumped into the race in April. Jason Cabel Roe, an Ashcroft campaign spokesperson, said this week that Ashcroft supports the abortion ban as it’s written. Asked to clarify whether he would support additional changes to the law allowing exceptions for rape and incest, Roe reiterated that Ashcroft ‘supports the existing law.’” [Kansas City Star, 7/27/23]
August 2023: Ashcroft Outlined His Anti-Abortion Position “Regardless Of The Circumstances Of Conception” In A Statement Co-Authored With His Wife, Katie. According to Ashcroft’s campaign website, “We believe Missouri's pre-born children are entitled to that protection of life too, regardless of the circumstances of their conception, and since taking office, I have striven to protect them. Missouri led the country to enact and sustain pro-life legislation in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to return the regulation of abortion to states, and I am grateful to have earned the sole endorsement for Governor from Missouri Right to Life.” [AshcroftForMissouri.com, 8/17/23]
Missouri Supreme Court Upheld A Lower Court’s Rejection Of Ashcroft’s Description Of Proposed Abortion Ballot Initiative. According to the Associated Press, “In Missouri, officials and advocates on both sides are grappling with how to word the question that could go on the ballot. Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft has proposed asking voters whether they are in favor of allowing ‘dangerous and unregulated abortions until live birth.’ A state appeals court in October said the wording was politically partisan. Ashcroft appealed the decision, but on Monday the Missouri Supreme Court declined to hear his argument.” [Associated Press, 11/21/23]
Republican Proposal That Passed Missouri Senate Would Require A Majority Vote In Five Of Missouri’s Eight Congressional Districts As Well As Statewide Majority For A Statewide Ballot Initiative To Pass. According to the Missouri Independent, “Legislation to add a new barrier to amending the Missouri Constitution by initiative petition passed the state Senate Thursday on a party line vote. With 22 Republicans in favor and nine Democrats opposed, the Senate sent the House a proposal that would require a statewide majority and a majority vote in five of the state’s eight congressional districts to pass a constitutional amendment resulting from an initiative petition or a state convention.” [Missouri Independent, 2/22/24]
KBIA: Ashcroft Signaled Support For The Republican Proposal To Undo Majority Rule. According to KBIA, “Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft, a candidate for governor, said he’s got a simple standard that legislation must meet. ‘It should be something that makes sure that if we’re amending our Constitution, it’s what the people of Missouri want and has broad agreement,’ Ashcroft said. ‘If what they do supports making sure Missourians broadly are making that decision, I’m fine with that.’” [KBIA, 2/6/24]
2019: Ashcroft Rejected A Referendum That Would Have Allowed Missouri Voters To Decide On The State’s 8-Week Abortion Ban With No Exceptions For Rape Or Incest. According to the St. Louis American, “Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft will face a legal challenge for his rejection of a referendum that would put the state legislature's new abortion ban to a public vote. […] The law, signed by Gov. Mike Parson, bans abortion in Missouri after eight weeks – with no exception for incest or other forms of rape. It also imposes criminal penalties upon physicians who break the law. […] Alison Dreith, deputy director at Hope Clinic for Women in Granite City, Illinois, and a veteran advocate for women's issues, called Ashcroft a coward for rejecting the referendum. ‘This cowardly move by the secretary of state proves that Missouri's anti-abortion zealots understand that they're acting against the wishes of the majority in Missouri,’ Dreith told The American. ‘They hope to short-circuit the people's vote because they know they will lose.’” [St. Louis American, 6/6/19]
Ashcroft Suggested He Wouldn’t Take An Oath To Uphold The Missouri Constitution If Voters Amended It To Protect Abortion Rights. According to the Associated Press, “In Missouri, Ashcroft drew attention in October when he suggested he might not be able to take the oath of office as governor if voters protect a right to abortion in the state Constitution. ‘Any time a statewide official is sworn in, we swear an oath to uphold the Constitution of the United States and of the state of Missouri,’ he told reporters after an abortion-related court hearing. ‘If I cannot do that, then I would have to leave my position. I cannot swear an oath and then refuse to do what I’d said I would do.’” [Associated Press 2/24/24]
July 2023: Ashcroft Was Endorsed By Missouri Right To Life PAC. According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, “Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft on Monday landed a key endorsement in his bid for governor, an exclusive nod from Missouri Right to Life's political action committee. Dave Plemmons, chairman of the Missouri Right to Life State PAC, said Missouri ‘needs a chief executive that prioritizes the sanctity of life in policy, appointments, and leadership decisions.’” [St. Louis Post-Dispatch 7/18/23]
December 2015: Lawyers For Missouri Right To Life Filed An Amicus Brief That Argued Frozen Embryos Created For Fertility Treatments Were Equivalent To Born Children. According to an amicus brief co-signed by Missouri Right to Life, “The parties created four children in 2007. (Tr. 80, 155.) Both parties agreed to the in vitro fertilization process. (Tr. 155.) Justin's intention was to have children. (Id.) Two children were born as a result of the in vitro fertilization. (Id.) That the other two are now literally ‘on ice’ indicates no inherent difference in the humanity of the frozen embryos and their born siblings, but rather a difference in the environment in which they were placed soon after fertilization took place.” [Thomas Moore Society, 12/15/15 via archive.org]
Missouri Right To Life Invoked Holocaust And American Slavery In Policy Statement On Protecting “Artificially-Produced Human Beings.” According to Missouri Right to Life, “We hold that a human being consists of any individual of the species homo sapiens, however he or she begins, whether conceived in the natural way, or begun by fertilization outside the womb, or created by any process such as cloning that is now imaginable or even unimaginable. […] The bloody carnage that results from dehumanizing unwanted persons stretches from the beginning of history past the 19th century slave plantations of our own Union, through the concentration camps of 20th century Germany, and into the nascent 21st century ‘brave new world.’” [Missouri Right to Life, 3/3/20]