Arizona Supreme Court rejects attempt to block abortion initiative from November ballot

The Arizona Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected an attempt to block a proposed constitutional amendment that would enshrine the right to an abortion from appearing on the November ballot.

The Arizona Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected an attempt to block a proposed constitutional amendment that would enshrine the right to an abortion from appearing on the November ballot. Arizona Right to Life, a group opposed to abortion rights, filed a challenge to the ballot initiative, taking issue with the 200-word petition description used to collect signatures and arguing that the public was misled about how broad the amendment would be. In its opinion issued Tuesday, the court found that the description of the amendment “is not required to explain the Initiative’s impact on existing abortion laws or regulations.” “Moreover, a reasonable person would necessarily understand that existing laws that fail the prescribed tests would be invalid rather than continue in effect,” the opinion reads. The Arizona Abortion Access Act received 577,971 certified signatures and will appear on the ballot as Proposition 139, the Arizona secretary of state’s office announced last week. The initiative had to reach 383,923 signatures to get on the ballot. The amendment would enshrine the right to an abortion in the state constitution up to fetal viability, which doctors believe is around 22 to 24 weeks of pregnancy.