Skip to content Skip to search

Republish This Story

* Please read before republishing *

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free under an Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives Creative Commons license as long as you follow our republishing guidelines, which require that you credit The 19th and retain our pixel. See our full guidelines for more information.

To republish, simply copy the HTML at right, which includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to The 19th. Have questions? Please email [email protected].

— The Editors

Loading...

Modal Gallery

/
Donate to our newsroom

Menu

Topics

  • Abortion
  • Politics
  • Education
  • LGBTQ+
  • Caregiving
  • Environment & Climate
  • Business & Economy
View all topics

The 19th News(letter)

News that represents you, in your inbox every weekday.

You have been subscribed!

Please complete the following CAPTCHA to be confirmed. If you have any difficulty, contact [email protected] for help.

Submitting...

Uh-oh! Something went wrong. Please email [email protected] to subscribe.

This email address might not be capable of receiving emails (according to Bouncer). You should try again with a different email address. If you have any questions, contact us at [email protected].

  • Latest Stories
  • Our Mission
  • Our Team
  • Ways to Give
  • Search
  • Contact
Donate
Home

We’re an independent, nonprofit newsroom reporting on gender, politics and policy. Read our story.

Topics

  • Abortion
  • Politics
  • Education
  • LGBTQ+
  • Caregiving
  • Environment & Climate
  • Business & Economy
View all topics

The 19th News(letter)

News that represents you, in your inbox every weekday.

You have been subscribed!

Please complete the following CAPTCHA to be confirmed. If you have any difficulty, contact [email protected] for help.

Submitting...

Uh-oh! Something went wrong. Please email [email protected] to subscribe.

This email address might not be capable of receiving emails (according to Bouncer). You should try again with a different email address. If you have any questions, contact us at [email protected].

  • Latest Stories
  • Our Mission
  • Our Team
  • Ways to Give
  • Search
  • Contact

We’re an independent, nonprofit newsroom reporting on gender, politics and policy. Read our story.

The 19th News(letter)

News that represents you, in your inbox every weekday.

You have been subscribed!

Please complete the following CAPTCHA to be confirmed. If you have any difficulty, contact [email protected] for help.

Submitting...

Uh-oh! Something went wrong. Please email [email protected] to subscribe.

This email address might not be capable of receiving emails (according to Bouncer). You should try again with a different email address. If you have any questions, contact us at [email protected].

Become a member

The 19th thanks our sponsors. Become one.

Abortion

Arizona abortion rights measure cleared for the November ballot

The Abortion Access Act would guarantee the right to an abortion up to the point of fetal viability.

Members of Arizona for Abortion Access, the ballot initiative to enshrine abortion rights in the Arizona State Constitution, hold a press conference and protest condemning Arizona House Republicans and the 1864 abortion ban during a recess from a legislative session at the Arizona House of Representatives on April 17, 2024 in Phoenix, Arizona. (Rebecca Noble/Getty Images)

Caitlin Sievers, Arizona Mirror

Published

2024-08-13 07:36
7:36
August 13, 2024
am

Republish this story

Share

  • Bluesky
  • Facebook
  • Email

Republish this story

Voters in November will be able to decide whether to amend the Arizona Constitution to guarantee the right to abortion, state election officials said Monday. 

The Arizona Abortion Access Act collected around 578,000 valid signatures, significantly more than the nearly 384,000 it needed to qualify for the ballot. 

“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,” Cheryl Bruce, campaign manager for the initiative, said in a written statement. 

The 19th thanks our sponsors. Become one.

The Abortion Access Act, which will be Proposition 139 on the ballot, would guarantee the right to an abortion up to the point of fetal viability, around 24 weeks of pregnancy. Exceptions to that limit would be allowed if a health care provider determined it was necessary to preserve a patient’s life, physical or mental health. 

The constitutional amendment would also forbid the state from adopting or enforcing any policy that restricts access to abortion unless its intent is to safeguard the patient’s life or health — potentially upending decades of anti-abortion laws passed to encumber and deter people from seeking abortions. 

Currently, Arizona has ban after 15 weeks of gestation, with no exceptions for rape or incest. Health care providers who perform an abortion beyond that gestational deadline for any reason except to prevent a patient’s death or the “substantial and irreversible impairment” of a major bodily function face a possible felony charge, with a potential prison sentence of up to two years. 

Explore more coverage from The 19th
In-depth reporting on topics you care about
Abortion Politics Education LGBTQ+ Caregiving
View all topics

Members of the Arizona for Abortion Access campaign who gathered signatures for the constitutional amendment celebrated their win on Monday. 

“Thousands of local volunteers, and dozens of organizations focused on reproductive rights, healthcare, faith communities, and veterans rights, not to mention millions of Arizonans have been looking forward to this day for more than a year,” campaign spokeswoman Chris Love said in the statement. “More than 7,000 Arizonans worked through snow, heat, wind and rain since September 2023 collecting these signatures from friends, neighbors and fellow voters to ensure we would have a say in the laws that govern our lives.” 

The initiative is still facing litigation, however. A trial court judge on August 5 shot down a lawsuit filed by Arizona Right to Life, an anti-abortion organization. In the suit, attorneys for Right to Life challenged the 200-word summary of the act shown to voters before they signed petition sheets to get the act on the ballot. The organization claimed that the summary was so misleading that all of the signatures gathered for it should be disqualified. 

One of Arizona Right to Life’s qualms with the summary of the act was the use of the term “health care provider” while the text of the act refers to the “treating health care provider” when describing who has the authority to determine that an abortion is necessary beyond fetal viability. Attorneys for the anti-abortion organization claimed that omitting the word “treating” misled those who signed the petition into thinking that a neutral doctor, and not an abortion provider, would be the person deciding whether an abortion past the point of fetal viability was warranted. 

But a Maricopa County Superior Court judge disagreed, dismissing the lawsuit. Two days later, Right to Life filed an appeal to the Arizona Supreme Court, which is expected to rule before the August 22 deadline to print ballots.

Arizona Mirror is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Arizona Mirror maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jim Small for questions: [email protected]. Follow Arizona Mirror on Facebook and X.

Republish this story

Share

  • Bluesky
  • Facebook
  • Email

Recommended for you

A patient has her vitals checked before receiving an abortion at a Planned Parenthood Abortion Clinic.
Florida Supreme Court approves abortion restriction — and ballot measure that would overturn it
A small plane is seen on a runway.
He’s been flying people to access reproductive care. Here’s how he’s preparing for the election.
Activists discuss abortion access with voters at the entrance to the Murphy-Wilmot Library in Tucson, Arizona.
Arizonans approve measure to expand abortion access
Arizona state Sen. Eva Burch stands up and speaks into a microphone on the floor, surrounded by other Democratic senators
A Democratic state senator needs an abortion. She told her colleagues about Arizona’s ‘cruel’ laws.

From the Collection

The 19th News Network

Illustration of a news network with partners republishing, curating and collaborating on news stories.
  • She didn't feel safe as a trans woman in America. So she found peace on the Atlantic Ocean.

    Emma Paidra, Uncloseted · May 2
  • University suspends nine gender, disability and ethnicity majors under new Ohio law

    Megan Henry, Ohio Capital Journal · April 24
  • Black women were at increased risk for lead absorption during the L.A. wildfires. Here’s why. 

    Elizabeth Moss, AfroLA · April 23

The 19th News(letter)

News that represents you, in your inbox every weekday.

You have been subscribed!

Please complete the following CAPTCHA to be confirmed. If you have any difficulty, contact [email protected] for help.

Submitting...

Uh-oh! Something went wrong. Please email [email protected] to subscribe.

This email address might not be capable of receiving emails (according to Bouncer). You should try again with a different email address. If you have any questions, contact us at [email protected].

Become a member

Explore more coverage from The 19th
Abortion Politics Education LGBTQ+ Caregiving
View all topics

Our newsroom's Spring Member Drive is here!

Learn more about membership.

  • Transparency
    • About
    • Team
    • Contact
    • Privacy Policy
    • Community Guidelines
  • Newsroom
    • Latest Stories
    • 19th News Network
    • Podcast
    • Events
    • Careers
    • Fellowships
  • Newsletters
    • Daily
    • Weekly
    • The Amendment
    • Event Invites
  • Support
    • Ways to Give
    • Sponsorship
    • Republishing
    • Volunteer

The 19th is a reader-supported nonprofit news organization. Our stories are free to republish with these guidelines.