Arizona Supreme Court Greenlights Ballot Measure to Enshrine Abortion Rights

August 22, 2024

183

Arizona Supreme Court Greenlights Ballot Measure to Enshrine Abortion Rights

The Supreme Court of Arizona has given the green light for a ballot measure to allow voters to decide whether abortion is a fundamental right this fall.

The ruling could help Democrats in their efforts to put abortion front and center in the presidential election.

During the election, Arizona will once again be an important battleground.

If adopted, the ballot measure would codify a right to abortion until 24 weeks, which is considered to be the point when a fetus is viable outside the womb.

The amendment also legalizes abortions beyond viability to protect a mother’s life or physical or mental health.

Anti-abortion group Arizona Right to Life challenged the language of the proposed amendment as misleading.

The organization said the amendment does not make clear that it would overturn existing law.

Existing law allows abortion until 15 weeks with exceptions for medical emergencies after that point.

The Arizona Supreme Court disagreed, finding that “reasonable” people would understand that laws in conflict with the amendment would be nullified.

The court said it does not have the role of resolving disputes between “reasonable people” over phrasing.

“We have noted that ‘(r)easonable people can differ about the best way to describe a principal provision, but a court should not enmesh itself in such quarrels,” the court wrote in its ruling.

Abortion advocates gathered 577,971 signatures to put the amendment on the ballot.

The left-wing group behind the Arizona measure, Arizona For Abortion Access, praised the ruling.

In a statement, the pro-abortion group said:

“We are confident that this fall, Arizona voters will make history by establishing a fundamental right to abortion in our state, once and for all.”

Democrats also won a push Tuesday to put an abortion amendment on the ballot in Montana, which will play a role in deciding control of the U.S. Senate.

The Supreme Court clarified in 2022 that there is no constitutional right to an abortion.

The landmark ruling sent the issue back to the states.

Democrats have capitalized on the return of abortion restrictions in some states to galvanize opposition to Republicans.

Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign has emphasized protecting abortion as an essential American “freedom.”

Republicans are trusted more on the top issues of immigration and the economy, with a slowing jobs market, steep housing costs, and record border crossings dampening the national mood.

Arizona, a border state, has been inundated with illegal* immigrants over the past four years.

The state’s deadline for printing ballots falls on Thursday.