Arizona certifies abortion rights initiative for November ballot

Arizona Secretary of State’s office said they had a record-number of certified signatures in favor of the ballot measure

Arizona voters will decide if the right to an abortion should be part of the state’s constitution in November after organizers successfully gathered enough signatures for the initiative to end up on the ballot.

On Monday, the Arizona Secretary of State’s office confirmed that the Arizona for Abortion Access Act will be a voting measure on the November ballot under “Proposition 139."

The proposed act asks voters if the state should establish a fundamental right to abortion in the Arizona Constitution, prohibit the state from outlawing abortion before fetal viability – around 24 weeks – and allow for abortion after that point if a physician determines it is necessary to protect the physical or mental health of the pregnant person.

It arrives after a chaotic year for the state in which the Arizona Supreme Court voted to uphold a Civil War-era abortion ban that criminalized nearly all abortions and would have overridden the state’s current 15-week abortion ban.

The near-total ban was repealed in May.

Members of Arizona for Abortion Access, the ballot initiative to enshrine abortion rights in the Arizona State Constitution (Getty Images)

An estimated 577,971 Arizonians signed the proposed ballot measure, a record number of certified signatures that far exceeds the necessary 383,923 needed.

"Well, if you just look at the number of petition signatures that were submitted you’re talking about almost one out of every five Arizona voters signed that petition to put this on the ballot," Secretary of State Adrian Fontes told The Independent last week.

"We’ve never seen anything close to that ever for any issue,” Fontes added.

Abortion rights advocates had been lobbying to get the proposition on the swing state’s ballot for months.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona, Planned Parenthood Advocates of Arizona, Affirm Sexual and Reproductive Health, Reproductive Freedom for All and other organizations supported the ballot measure.

“This is a huge win for Arizona voters who will now get to vote YES on restoring and protecting the right to access abortion care, free from political interference, once and for all,” said Cheryl Bruce, the campaign manager for Arizona for Abortion Access.

Abortion rights supporters gather outside the Capitol, Wednesday, April 17, 2024, in Phoenix. Arizona (AP)

Similar propositions are on the ballot in six other states including Nevada, Colorado, Maryland, New York, Florida and South Dakota. Missouri will also have an abortion rights measure on their ballot in November, the secretary of state announced on Tuesday.

Democrats hope the amendments will lift them in a must-win election.

Vice President Kamala Harris hopes to keep Arizona in the Democratic column after President Joe Biden won it in 2020. Representative Ruben Gallego is running heavily on abortion rights in his Senate race against former news anchor and election denier Kari Lake.

Oscar De Los Santos, the assistant Democratic leader in the Arizona legislature, said he hopes to flip the state legislature this year.

"I think we’re in a very strong position to flip – we’ve obviously got the abortion ballot initiative out there that I think is going to help drive contrast on a very important issue between Democrats and Republicans," he said.

A CBS poll from May found that 51 percent of voters believed abortion was a major factor in their voting decision. More than 60 percent of survey respondents said they believed abortion should be legal in most or all cases.

Arizona voters can decide on Prop 139 in the November general election while casting their ballots for the president, Senate and other races.