CV NEWS FEED // The Arizona Supreme Court ruled earlier this week that an abortion measure can appear on the November ballot, striking down a challenge from Arizona Right to Life that claimed the ballot description was misleading to voters.
The ballot initiative, known as Proposition 139, attempts to add a “fundamental right to abortion” to the state constitution. According to the description, the state may not regulate abortions before fetal viability without a compelling reason. Both before and after fetal viability, abortions would be allowed in cases where the mother’s life is threatened.
Abortion is currently legal in Arizona up to 15 weeks of pregnancy. “Fetal viability” is usually defined at around 24 weeks.
Arizona Right to Life argued that the description would allow abortions up until birth. The organization called for the initiative to be removed from the November ballot. Lower courts ruled in favor of the initiative, saying that the description “accurately and fully communicated the initiative’s key provisions,” according to AZFamily.
AZFamily also reported that Arizona residents had overwhelmingly supported the initiative. The initiative received 577,971 signatures, which was well over the necessary threshold.
The Supreme Court’s August 20 decision upheld the rulings of lower courts and directed Democrat Secretary of State Adrian Fontes to place the initiative on the ballot, AZ Central reported.
Chief Justice Ann Scott Timmer wrote in the order that the court’s decision “does not rest on the justices’ morals or public policy views regarding abortion.”
“Rather, our task is to apply the law governing initiative descriptions fairly and impartially in the context of the people’s exercise of the legislative power through the initiative,” she added.
