LITTLE ROCK, Ark. Supporters of a proposal to ask voters to scale back Arkansas’ abortion ban sued the state on Tuesday for rejecting their petitions to place the measure on the November ballot.
Arkansans for Limited Government, the group supporting the proposed constitutional amendment, asked the state Supreme Court to reverse the state’s decision. The group asked the court to order Secretary of State John Thurston’s office to begin counting signatures submitted on petitions, which would have been sufficient if they had been certified.
The secretary of state’s office said July 10 that the group did not file required statements related to the paid signature collectors it used. The group stated that the documentation presented – which included a list of collectors – met legal requirements.
“The Secretary’s unlawful rejection of petitioners’ submission prevents the people of Arkansas from exercising their right to adopt, or reject, the amendment,” the group’s lawsuit states. “This court should correct the Secretary’s error and reaffirm Arkansas’ motto, Regnat Populus, The People Rule.”
Thurston’s office said it was reviewing the lawsuit and had no immediate comment.
The proposed amendment would prohibit laws that prohibit abortion in the first 20 weeks of pregnancy, and allow later abortions in cases of rape, incest, threats to the woman’s health or life, or if the fetus is unlikely to survive birth.
The group submitted more than 101,000 signatures by the state’s July 5 deadline. They needed at least 90,704 signatures from registered voters and from a minimum of 50 counties.
Election officials cited a 2013 Arkansas law that requires campaigns to submit statements identifying each paid canvasser by name and confirming that the rules for collecting signatures were explained to them.
State records show that the group on June 27 submitted a signed statement including a list of its paid canvassers and a statement saying that the petition rules had been explained to them, and that its July 5 submission additionally included statements sworn statements of each subscription paid. collector acknowledging that the initiative group has provided them with all the rules and regulations required by law.
The state asserted that this documentation was noncompliant because it was not signed by the initiative sponsor and because all of these documents were not included with the signed petitions.
Despite these disputes, the initiative group asserts that Arkansas law requires that they be given the opportunity to provide all necessary documentation so that the state can begin counting signatures.
The US Supreme Court removed the national right to abortion in 2022 with a decision that created national momentum for voters to decide the issue state by state. Arkansas now prohibits abortion at any time during pregnancy unless necessary to protect the mother’s life in a medical emergency.
Lawmakers in the Republican-controlled legislature approved the current law. Giving voters the opportunity to weigh in on a constitutional change would test support for abortion rights in the state, where top elected officials regularly promote their opposition to abortion.
Litigating this effort to reinstate the petitions can be difficult. Conservatives hold a majority of seats on the seven-member Arkansas Supreme Court.
The ballot proposal lacked support from national abortion advocacy groups such as Planned Parenthood because it would still have allowed abortion to be banned 20 weeks into pregnancy, earlier than other states where abortion remains legal.
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