Activists in Arizona, Nebraska Submit Signatures for Abortion Ballot Measures, Deadline for Arkansas Looms

Activists in Arizona and Nebraska submitted signatures on Wednesday for proposed amendments that would enshrine the right to abortion into their state constitutions.

Activists in both states said they turned in more than the required signatures to appear on the ballots in November, Associated Press reported. Election officials in both states must certify the signatures before they are officially cleared to appear before voters.

Arizona for Abortion Access — a coalition of groups including ACLU of Arizona, Affirm Sexual and Reproductive Health, Arizona List, Healthcare Rising Arizona, NARAL Arizona, and Planned Parenthood Advocates of Arizona — announced that they submitted 823,685 signatures, far surpassing the 383,923 required to qualify. 

The proposed amendment would amend the Arizona constitution to declare that “every individual has a fundamental right to abortion” and bars the state from doing anything that:

Denies, restricts, or interferes with that right before fetal viability unless justified by a compelling state interest that is achieved by the least restrictive means.

Denies, restricts, or interferes with an abortion after fetal viability that, in the good faith judgment of a treating health care professional, is necessary to protect the life or physical or mental health of the pregnant individual. 

Penalizes any individual or entity for aiding or assisting a pregnant individual in exercising that individual’s right to abortion as provided in this section. 

Abortion is currently restricted in Arizona after 15 weeks of pregnancy, which is when an unborn baby is believed to be capable of feeling pain.

The Arizona Supreme Court allowed a near-total abortion ban from 1864 to go into effect over the 15-week restriction in April. However, Democrat Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs quickly signed a bill repealing the law on May 2.

In Nebraska, the Protect Our Rights campaign — a coalition endorsed by groups like the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Nebraska and Planned Parenthood Advocates of Nebraska — said they turned in 207,000 signatures, more than the 123,000 required. 

The measure would amend the state constitution to read:

All persons shall have a fundamental right to abortion until fetal viability, or when needed to protect the life or health of the pregnant patient, without interference from the state or its political subdivisions. Fetal viability means the point in pregnancy when, in the professional judgment of the patient’s treating health care practitioner, there is a significant likelihood of the fetus’ sustained survival outside the uterus without the application of extraordinary medical measures.

Republican Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen signed a bill in May 2023 that restricts abortion at 12 weeks of pregnancy and outlaws “gender-affirming care” for minors. Before the 12-week limit was in effect, Nebraska limited abortions to 20 weeks of pregnancy.

There could be a competing abortion question on Nebraska’s November ballot. Organizers of Susan B. Antony Pro-Life America’s competing petition effort said they submitted more than 205,000 signatures, according to AP. That measure would enshrine Nebraska’s current 12-week limit into the state constitution. 

Activists in Arkansas are facing a Friday deadline to submit signatures needed for their abortion ballot measure.

“The group behind the measure, Arkansans for Limited Government, said on Facebook and Instagram on Tuesday that it still needed about 5,800 signatures out of the 90,704 required,” AP reported. 

The Arkansas measure would not allow the state government to “prohibit, penalize, delay, or restrict abortion services within 18 weeks of fertilization, which equates to approximately 20 weeks since the first day of the pregnant female’s last menstrual period.”

The amendment would also allow abortions in cases of rape, incest, a fatal fetal anomaly, or “to protect a pregnant female’s life or to protect a pregnant female from a physical disorder, physical illness, or physical injury.”

Abortion is currently outlawed in Arkansas except to save the life of a pregnant woman in a medical emergency.

Overall, left-wing activists in at least 11 states have launched efforts to place abortion on the ballot in November — and proposed constitutional amendments have officially qualified for the ballots in six of those states, including Colorado, South Dakota, Florida, Maryland, Nevada, and New York. 

Katherine Hamilton is a political reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow her on X @thekat_hamilton.

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