On Friday, Cole County Circuit Judge Christopher Limbaugh ruled that a ballot measure seeking to overturn the state’s current abortion law that only allows abortion for medical emergencies was not qualified to be placed on the ballot because it did not follow state law in its signature process. Specifically, signatories weren’t informed of each of the state laws that would be undone by the measure.

Limbaugh stayed the decision that found the initiative petition insufficient until Tuesday in order to allow defendants to appeal the ruling before the deadline for Missouri’s secretary of state to print ballots for the November election.

Missourians for Constitutional Freedom, the main group backing the ballot measure, appealed the decision, seeking a “swift resolution” to the legal challenges before the ballot deadline on Tuesday.

“The court’s decision to block Amendment 3 from appearing on the ballot is a profound injustice to the initiative petition process and undermines the rights of the 380,000 Missourians who signed our petition demanding a voice on this critical issue,” Missourians for Constitutional Freedom campaign manager Rachel Sweet said in a statement on Friday.

The Missouri Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in appeal of the Friday ruling on Tuesday morning, ahead of the deadline later that day marking the last day the ballot measure could be removed from the November ballot.

If allowed on the ballot and passed by voters, the measure would instead restrict the state government from making laws on the matter but allow it to pass a law banning abortion after fetal viability with exceptions for the mother’s life or physical or mental health. Anti-abortion advocates say measures that include exceptions to allow abortion to protect the mental health of the mother open the door for little-to-no restrictions on the termination of a pregnancy.

The measure will only need a simple majority to pass if it is kept on the ballot. Other states where abortion will be up for a vote include Arizona, Nevada, Maryland, Colorado, South Dakota, and Florida.

Abortion ballot measures since the 2022 Supreme Court decisions in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which returned the authority to write abortion laws to the states, have almost entirely gone in favor of abortion rights advocates, even in heavily Republican states.