A protester holds a sign at an abortion rights rally at the state Capitol on May 3, 2022. Photo by Jerod MacDonald-Evoy || Arizona Mirror
GLORIA REBECCA GOMEZ
Arizona Mirror
Arizona reproductive rights advocates have officially taken the first step toward protecting abortion access, filing an initiative for the 2024 ballot on Tuesday.
The initiative, entitled Arizona for Abortion Access, is the culmination of a monthslong effort to enshrine the procedure as a right in the state constitution. If it makes it onto the 2024 ballot and Arizona voters approve it, ongoing attempts from anti-abortion groups to further restrict access to the procedure would be nullified.
“Every Arizonan should have the freedom to make decisions about their bodies, their lives, and their futures,” said Chris Love, senior advisor for Planned Parenthood Advocates of Arizona, which helped develop the initiative. “We know the work for achieving reproductive freedom is an uphill battle, and this ballot initiative is the next critical step in our renewed drive to protect the health and freedom of our patients and our communities.”
What’s the current state of abortion in Arizona?
After the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the constitutional right to abortion last year and sent the question back to the states, multiple GOP-led states, including Arizona, moved to tighten access to abortion care.
Republican lawmakers in the Grand Canyon State passed a 15-week limit in 2022, and, shortly after the Dobbs decision, GOP state leaders went to court to restore a near-total ban from 1864.
Ultimately, a state appeals court ruled that the 2022 law supersedes the 1864 near-total ban. But anti-abortion activists appealed that ruling earlier this year, and while the state’s newly elected Democratic leaders have refused to defend it in court, its return remains a possibility.
Another law yet to see its day in court is one passed in 2021 that bestows personhood on all fetuses, effectively outlawing every abortion. The law was previously blocked by a federal judge under the precedent set by Roe v. Wade and is currently on hold until later this year, though since Roe has been overturned, the law may end up going into effect. A provision in that same law that bans abortions for reasons of genetic anomalies in the fetus was reinstated in January.
