Planned Parenthood, 5 other groups launch campaign in Arizona to expand abortion rights
A coalition of advocacy groups launched a campaign to put a constitutional amendment on the ballot next year asking Arizona voters to protect and expand abortion rights in the state.
“Every Arizonan should have the freedom to make decisions about their bodies, their lives, and their futures," said Chris Love, senior adviser for Planned Parenthood Advocates of Arizona, one of six groups backing the effort.
"We know the work for achieving reproductive freedom is an uphill battle, and this ballot initiative is the next critical step in our renewed drive to protect the health and freedom of our patients and our communities.”
The amendment would guarantee the right to an abortion before fetal viability, and after viability if a doctor determines it is necessary to protect the physical or mental health of the mother, according to initial paperwork filed with the state Tuesday. It also would prohibit penalties against anyone who helps a person obtain an abortion under those provisions.
The Arizona Abortion Access Act, as the proposed amendment has been called, is also backed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona, NARAL Arizona, Affirm Sexual and Reproductive Health, Arizona List, and Healthcare Rising Arizona.
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“Successful passage of this initiative will serve as a foundation upon which to build further efforts assuring true reproductive freedom for Arizonans, today and tomorrow," said Jodi Liggett, senior adviser for NARAL Arizona.
The groups took the first step to getting something on the ballot with the filing of an application with the Arizona secretary of state, a development first reported by The Washington Post.
Love said the application was the culmination of 10 months of behind-the-scenes work, a period that included polling to help determine whether to seek a change to state law or the Arizona Constitution, and whether to put limits on access such as only until viability.
"We really committed to doing the thing the data told us to do," Love said. "We all have our values with respect to abortion, and we realized we have to marry those values with policy, law, and really taking a look at what we could get funded as well."
The coalition will need to gather 383,923 signatures by early July to get the measure on the November 2024 ballot, where it would appear alongside high-profile races for president and U.S. Senate.
The 2022 election saw abortion become a prominent issue for Democratic candidates after the U.S. Supreme Court last year overturned the right to an abortion in the landmark case Roe v. Wade, and it is already a factor in 2024 races more than a year before the election.
Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs, a Democrat who won the state's top office last year after campaigning to protect abortion access, praised the launch of the initiative. Hobbs is expected to use her political muscle to support the effort and sent out a fundraising email citing the initiative hours after it was announced.
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"Since Roe v. Wade was overturned last year, Arizonans have been living with confusion and uncertainty over which abortion ban is in effect," the governor said in a statement released by her campaign manager. "We’re just one bad court decision away from a total abortion ban that carries prison time for doctors."
But the effort will be met with headwinds, including opposition from the Center for Arizona Policy, an anti-abortion rights group with its own political arm.
Center President Cathi Herrod on Tuesday labeled the effort an "inhumane ballot measure replete with intentionally vague language."
Herrod foreshadowed what could become arguments in a campaign against the amendment, including that it would strip "safety precautions for women and the rights of parents."
"It leaves parents in the dark while their daughters struggle to make one of their most consequential decisions alone," Herrod's statement reads. "And instead of owning up to the radical realities in clear language, the measure deceitfully first includes the limitation of viability, then nullifies it with broad, universal exemptions that allows stress to be reason enough for a late term abortion."
Herrod also alleged the proposed amendment was funded by "outside money and special interests." The announcement by Arizona for Abortion Access says 25% of its funding is from out-of-state contributors, but additional fundraising details are not yet available.
Fetal viability, when a fetus can survive outside of the womb, is around 23 to 24 weeks of pregnancy. Abortion up until viability was allowed under Roe v. Wade, which was overturned by a majority-conservative Supreme Court last year, leaving it up to states to determine the law on abortion access.
Arizona lawmakers curtailed rights in anticipation of Roe being overturned, limiting abortion to the first 15 weeks of pregnancy through a 2022 law signed by then-Gov. Doug Ducey, a Republican. That left Arizona with two conflicting laws on the books — the 15-week ban and a pre-statehood ban that prohibited abortion in almost every circumstance.
As Roe was overturned, abortion providers in the state stopped services temporarily while courts sorted out which law prevailed, leading to a monthslong period of confusion. Courts later said the 15-week law prevailed, but that is still being challenged in court.
In 2021, providers in Arizona reported 13,896 abortions in the state, according to the latest Arizona Department of Health Services report. Of those, 94% occurred at or before 15 weeks of pregnancy, with most — 59% — occurring before eight weeks.
Reach reporter Stacey Barchenger at [email protected] or 480-416-5669.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Initiative campaign launches in Arizona to expand abortion rights
