By Hannah Elsmore | Arizona Capitol Times
An anti-abortion group filed a lawsuit July 24 that aims to prevent a citizen initiative that would enshrine abortion rights into the state’s Constitution from going to the ballot.
The action comes as the group behind the measure, Arizona for Abortion Access, is arguing in court that their measure should be summarized without the phrase “unborn human being” in an informative pamphlet that is sent out to voters ahead of the election.
Arizona Right to Life, the anti-abortion organization behind the lawsuit, said in the complaint that the citizen-led petition was “inherently misleading” in how the effects of the measure were portrayed.
The group argues that the petition is “misleading on its face” because it was described to allow abortions up to fetal viability in most circumstances, but their attorney, Timothy La Sota, wrote that it would actually allow abortions up to any point if “a doctor decides it is necessary to protect (the mother’s) mental health.” Fetal viability is generally considered to be between 22 to 24 weeks of pregnancy.
Some voters may have decided to back the initiative due to the petition’s “ambiguity,” he said. At minimum, La Sota argued, failure to utilize statutory text could create confusion as to who decides when fetal viability begins.
