Pro-choice advocates set to turn in around 800,000 signatures for Arizona abortion ballot measure

PHOENIX (AP) — Pro-choice advocates are set to deliver about 800,000 petition signatures Wednesday in hopes of getting the abortion rights issue on Arizona’s November general election ballot.

Organizers said 383,923 valid signatures are needed for the amendment measure, which would enshrine in the state constitution a fundamental right to an abortion, to qualify to go before voters.

Activists in two other states — Nebraska and Arkansas — also are planning to submit signatures this week for a ballot measure about abortion. If successful, those states and Arizona will join five other states where the issue is set to go before voters this year: Colorado, Florida, Maryland, Nevada and South Dakota.

Arizona is a swing state in this year’s election, and the abortion issue is a key part of Democratic campaigns.

Opponents of the amendment measure have said it goes too far and could lead to unlimited and unregulated abortions in Arizona.

Officials with Arizona for Abortion Access, a coalition of groups including the American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona and Planned Parenthood of Arizona, said they reached the 500,000-signature mark by April — months ahead of the July 3 deadline. The coalition planned to turn in hundreds of boxes of signed petitions to the Arizona Secretary of State’s office Wednesday morning.

Arizona for Abortion Access spokesperson Dawn Penich said it was the most signatures ever submitted by a citizens initiative in state history.

“That was our goal from the get-go,” Penich said. “We started collecting signatures in September and October 2023 and saw how passionate people are about this issue.”

Election officials said Aug. 22 is the deadline for county recorders to verify petition signatures and provide certified results to the Arizona Secretary of State’s office.

If approved by voters on Nov. 5, the proposed ballot measure would allow abortions in Arizona until a fetus could survive outside the womb, typically around 24 weeks, with exceptions to save the parent’s life or to protect her physical or mental health. It would restrict the state from adopting or enforcing any law that would prohibit access to the procedure.

Arizona currently has a 15-week abortion ban in place. It was signed into law in 2022 and includes exceptions in cases of medical emergencies and has restrictions on medication abortion. It also requires an ultrasound before an abortion is done, as well as parental consent for minors.

Two months ago, the Arizona Supreme Court upheld a 1864 abortion ban that permitted abortions only to save the patient’s life and provided no exceptions for survivors of rape or incest, but the Legislature voted for a repeal of the Civil War-era ban, and Gov. Katie Hobbs quickly signed. The 19th century law had been blocked in Arizona since 1973 with the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Roe v. Wade that guaranteed the constitutional right to an abortion nationwide.

Supporters of the Arizona ballot measure say a change in the state’s constitution is necessary to ensure that abortion rights cannot be easily erased by a high court decision or legislative vote.

In Nebraska, organizers of a petition to enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution have expressed confidence that they’ve gathered enough signatures to get the measure before voters in November.

Allie Berry, campaign manager for Protect Our Rights, and organizers of a competing petition effort to codify Nebraska’s 12-week abortion ban in the state constitution would not say how many signatures they’d gathered ahead of Wednesday’s deadline.

Both efforts, as well as a third that would ban abortion at all stages by deeming embryos as people, must turn in around 123,000 valid signatures — or 10% of registered voters in the state — to get on the November ballot.

The total abortion ban effort in Nebraska started only eight weeks ago and is unlikely to gather the signatures it needs. The 12-week ban proposal — which kicked off in March thanks to a $500,000 donation from Nebraska Republican U.S. Sen. Pete Ricketts — has made a furious 11th-hour push to gather signatures but has telegraphed that it might not meet the threshold.

Supporters of an Arkansas proposal that would scale back the state’s abortion ban face a Friday deadline to submit petitions to try and qualify for the November ballot.

The group behind the measure, Arkansans for Limited Government, said on Facebook and Instagram on Tuesday it still needed 8,200 signatures. The group must submit at least 90,704 valid signatures from registered voters to qualify.

The proposed constitutional amendment would prohibit the state from banning abortion within the first 18 weeks of pregnancy. The proposal includes exemptions for rape, incest, fatal fetal anomalies and to protect the mother’s life. It would also exempt abortions performed to protect the mother from a physical disorder, physical illness or physical injury.

Arkansas banned nearly all abortions under a law that took effect when the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. Arkansas’ ban currently only exempts abortions to protect the mother’s life in a medical emergency.

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Associated Press reporter Margery A. Beck in Omaha, Nebraska, and Andrew DeMillo in Little Rock, Arkansas, contributed to this report.