A pro-abortion coalition has launched a political action committee (PAC) called Arizona for Abortion Access to start a ballot initiative to enshrine the “right” to abortion in the state’s constitution.
Among those supporting the PAC are the American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona, Planned Parenthood Advocates of Arizona, NARAL Arizona, Affirm Sexual and Reproductive Health, Arizona List, and Healthcare Rising Arizona.
On Tuesday, the group filed the Arizona Abortion Access Act, which it says is a “proposed constitutional amendment that will enshrine the fundamental right to abortion in the Arizona Constitution for generations to come.” The proposed amendment, obtained by Catholic News Agency, would establish a “fundamental right to abortion” which “the state cannot deny, restrict, or interfere with” prior to the time of fetal viability. Viability is an arbitrary timeline, generally considered to be the time the child can survive outside the womb. The standard is typically considered 24 weeks, though children as young as 21 weeks have survived.
Currently, most preborn children in Arizona are protected from abortion after 15 weeks.
“We know that there is support for that because candidates have organized their own political campaigns in the past on this and won, so we know that people will vote for the issue itself,” Jodi Liggett, a senior adviser for NARAL Arizona, told The Washington Post. Ligget also estimated that the ballot initiative could be “a $40 [million] or $50 million project.”
Cathi Herrod, president of the Center for Arizona Policy, spoke against the initiative. “Our initial viewing of the measure reveals an extreme power grab by an industry that sees no limits to abortion,” she said in a statement.
The coalition will need to gather more than 380,000 signatures from registered voters in order to qualify the referendum for the November 2024 ballot. According to The Washington Post, state legislative staff will review the proposed amendment’s language in the next 30 days. The PAC hopes to start collecting signatures by mid-September.
