In 2024 Elections, a Ballot Measure Could Amend the Arizona Constitution to Protect Abortion Rights

In 2024 Elections, a Ballot Measure Could Amend the Arizona Constitution to Protect Abortion Rights
8/9/2023 by Carrie N. Baker
As many as eight states could vote on abortion-rights ballot initiatives in 2024.



Abortion rights protesters chant at a rally at the Tucson Federal Courthouse in Tucson on July 4, 2022. (Sandy Huffaker / AFP via Getty Images)

On Aug. 8, a coalition of Arizona organizations announced the filing of the Arizona Abortion Access Act, which would place a proposed constitutional amendment protecting abortion rights on Arizona’s November 2024 general election ballot. “Every Arizonan should have the freedom to make decisions about their bodies, their lives and their futures,” said Chris Love, senior advisor for Planned Parenthood Advocates of Arizona. “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 coalition is a new political action committee called Arizona for Abortion Access, led by ACLU of Arizona, Planned Parenthood Advocates of Arizona, NARAL Arizona, Affirm Sexual and Reproductive Health, Arizona List and Healthcare Rising Arizona. “This initiative will bring together a vast coalition of Arizonans from across the state who will stand up and declare that we should be able to make our own healthcare decisions without interference from politicians,” said Arizona for Abortion Access chair Dr. Candace Lew.

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The proposed Arizona amendment was announced the same day Ohio voters resoundingly rejected Issue 1, which would have made it harder to amend the state constitution—including a ballot measure that seeks to ensure the constitutional right to abortion, which will now officially appear on the ballot for Ohio voters in November. “Republicans should be ashamed of their efforts to subvert the will of voters,” NARAL Pro-Choice America said in a statement on Tuesday night about the vote. “Seeing this measure defeated is a victory for our fundamental rights and our democracy.”

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The proposed amendment defines “compelling state interest” to be “a law or regulation enacted for the limited purpose of improving or maintaining the health of an individual seeking abortion care, consistent with accepted clinical standards or practice and evidence-based medicine, and that does not infringe on that individual’s autonomous decision-making.” The amendment defines “fetal viability” as “the point in pregnancy when, in the good faith judgment of a treating health care professional and based on the particular facts of the case, there is a significant likelihood of the fetus’ sustained survival outside the uterus without the application of extraordinary medical measures.”

By defining these terms in relation to “accepted clinical standards” and “evidence-based medicine,” they appear designed to prevent abortion restrictions purporting to protect women’s health that are not based in medical science. “When the Supreme Court took away our right to abortion last summer, that was another example of healthcare being taken away from us,” said Trinidad Rivera, Healthcare Rising Arizona member. “Now we have a chance to do something about it—a chance to take back our rights.”

https://msmagazine.com/2023/08/09/arizona-abortion-ballot-initiative/