PHOENIX — A proposed amendment to enshrine access to abortion in the Arizona constitution is one step closer to appearing on the November 2024 ballot after organizers sent far more than the required number of valid signatures to state officials on Wednesday -fair.
Arizona for Abortion Access, the group leading the effort, announced that it has collected signatures from more than 823,000 registered voters — more than twice the 384,000 needed to move forward with the process of qualifying its proposal for the ballot. Organizers said this is the largest number of signatures ever submitted in Arizona for a citizen-led ballot initiative. NBC News is the first media outlet to report the news of the group’s submission of signatures.
In an interview before its public announcement, Arizona for Abortion Access spokesperson Chris Love said the number of signatures means “we are showing the strength of our campaign.
“We have been in the field since last September with our volunteer and paid subscription efforts. And so this number is not only a record, but it’s a show of strength that Arizona voters really want to see abortion on the ballot, and they want to carry weight and that’s why they signed on,” Love said. “More Importantly, we are telling our opposition that they have a tough fight ahead of them.”
At a press conference Wednesday morning outside the Arizona State Capitol, hundreds of the nearly 7,000 volunteers who helped collect those signatures cheered as organizers announced the total they had collected. After the event, these volunteers hand-delivered thousands of petitions to state authorities inside the Capitol complex.
Organizers said they collected the required number of signatures months ago, with the intention of waiting until Wednesday’s deadline to submit as many as possible. The strategy was designed as a show of force and a contingency in case a large number of signatures were challenged or rejected by state officials.
The office of Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes, a Democrat, now has until Aug. 27 to review the signatures and formally certify the measure for a November vote.
The proposed constitutional amendment would create a “fundamental right” to have an abortion until fetal viability. From then on, the measure would prevent the State from restricting abortion in situations where the health or life of the pregnant woman is at risk, according to the health professional responsible for the treatment.
The political debate over the future of abortion rights has been particularly fierce in Arizona, a key battleground state following the reversal of Roe v. Wade. Wade by the US Supreme Court in 2022.
In April, the conservative-leaning Arizona Supreme Court ruled to reinstate a near-total ban on abortion from 1864. Following backlash in the state and across the country, including from Republicans, Arizona lawmakers passed a bill to law repealing the ban in May, which Democrats Gov. Katie Hobbs signed into law.
The repeal effectively put back into effect a 2022 law, signed by Arizona’s then-Republican governor, that made abortion legal until the 15th week of pregnancy, with an exception after that to save the mother’s life, but no exceptions for rape or incest.
If voters approved the proposed ballot measure in November, it would effectively undo the 15-week ban.
Putting the abortion issue directly in front of voters in Arizona could also help increase Democratic turnout in the state’s 2024 presidential election, as well as critical Senate and House races.
Constitutional amendments to enshrine the right to abortion are expected to formally appear on the general election ballot in six states this fall – Colorado, Florida, Maryland, Nevada, New York and South Dakota – while Arizona is among five others (along with Arkansas, Missouri , Montana and Nebraska), where organizers continue to work to promote similar ballot measures.
Adam Edelman is reporting from New York; Alex Tabet of Phoenix.
This story originally appeared on NBCNews.com read the full story
