The state Supreme Court last week issued an order keeping the proposed state constitutional amendment – called Amendment 3 – on the Nov. 5 ballot. The judges’ decision came hours before a deadline to finalize the ballot and they didn’t explain their reasoning at the time.

The Missouri Supreme Court held Tuesday that a sweeping pro-choice initiative may go before the voters in November, overruling a lower-court decision days earlier that had found the petition violated state law.

After Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft moved to take the measure off the ballot Monday, attorneys asked that he be held in contempt of court.

The decision to keep a constitutional amendment legalizing abortion on the November statewide ballot was decided by a narrowly-divided Missouri Supreme Court, according to opinions released Friday. The majority opinion was written by Judge Paul Wilson,