Arizona abortion rights amendment backers says they've gathered signatures needed for 2024 ballot
Groups working to put reproductive rights in Arizona’s state constitution say they've exceeded the signature threshold to put an amendment on the fall ballot.
PHOENIX — Groups working to put reproductive rights in Arizona’s state constitution say they have exceeded the signature threshold to put a constitutional amendment on abortion on the state’s ballot in November.
Arizona for Abortion Access, a coalition of reproductive rights organizations including the ACLU of Arizona and Planned Parenthood Advocates of Arizona, says it had gathered 506,892 petition signatures as of this past weekend, with more than three months to go until the July 3 deadline to submit the signatures to Arizona’s secretary of state. The threshold to put a measure on the ballot is 383,923 signatures, and while some typically get invalidated in the verification process, the amendment appears on track to go before voters this fall.
“This is an issue that people are eager to see on the ballot,” said Cheryl Bruce, the campaign manager for Arizona for Abortion Access. “As our volunteers are out collecting, people are coming up to them, folks are coming up to them and wanting to sign this petition,” said Bruce. “They want to see access to abortion restored in the state of Arizona,” she added.
Having the issue on the ballot alongside President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump this fall will elevate a key plank in the Democratic platform in a major battleground state. The Supreme Court’s 2022 Dobbs decision overturning Roe v. Wade and putting states in control of abortion policy has been a major part of Democratic campaigns.
Biden won Arizona by 0.3 percentage points four years ago. It is the closest swing state from 2020 that appears likely to have an abortion ballot measure before voters this fall. On Monday, Florida’s state Supreme Court approved a similar November ballot measure there, while also upholding the state’s current limits on abortion. Trump won Florida by 3.4 points in 2020.
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