Arizona voters approved a ballot measure amending the state constitution to ensure access to abortion, a victory for the abortion-rights side that comes after a complicated legislative and legal battle over rules in the state.
A simple majority was needed to pass. The vote in favor was called by the Associated Press at 3:31 p.m., with about 61% of the ballots counted in the state.
The abortion-rights amendment on Arizona ballots, Proposition 139, will establish in the state constitution a “fundamental right to abortion” and prohibit the state from interfering with abortion access before fetal viability — or the point at which a fetus can survive outside the mother’s womb.
As of last month, abortion is restricted in Arizona after 15 weeks gestation, with no exceptions for survivors of rape or incest after that point.
A series of complicated judicial and legislative developments since the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision have thrust abortion politics to the forefront in the state.
The Arizona state legislature passed a 15-week abortion ban shortly after the Dobbs decision was leaked from the Supreme Court but before the decision was announced in June 2022.
Meanwhile, an 1864 statute, crafted when Arizona was a territory, prohibited abortion at all stages of pregnancy except in cases of medical emergency for the mother.
In April of this year, the state Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the 1864 law because it was the only statute on the books that was passed when Roe was not the law of the land.
Within three weeks of the state Supreme Court decision, Arizona’s House and Senate passed bills to repeal the 1864 law, meaning that the law imposing a 15-week limit became operative.
With this contentious backdrop, the abortion-rights fight in Arizona attracted a significant amount of campaign contributions.
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Arizona for Abortion Access, which supports Proposition 139, collected a total of $32.7 million as of Sept. 30 and spent $20.6 million during the campaign, according to state campaign finance documents.
By comparison, It Goes Too Far PAC, which is against the amendment, has garnered only $1.3 million in contributions and spent slightly over $540,000.