Anti-life groups promoting abortion-on-demand in Arizona announced Tuesday they will seek to amend the state’s constitution to enshrine a right to abortion in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision last year to overturn Roe v. Wade.
A new political action committee (PAC) that calls itself Arizona for Abortion Access filed to collect signatures to get the Arizona Abortion Access Act on the ballot in 2024, KTARNews reported.
According to the Arizona Secretary of State’s office, the text of the proposed amendment reads:
The Arizona Abortion Access Act amends the Arizona Constitution to establish a fundamental right to abortion that the State may not deny, restrict or interfere with [1] before the point in pregnancy when a health care provider determines that the fetus has a significant likelihood of survival outside the uterus without extraordinary medical measures unless justified by a compelling governmental interest (defined by the act as a law or regulation enacted for the limited purpose of improving or maintaining the health of an individual seeking abortion care, consistent with accepted clinical standards of practice and evidence-based medicine, and that does not infringe on that individual’s autonomous decision-making) that is achieved by the least restrictive means, or [2] after that point in pregnancy if a health care provider determines an abortion is necessary to protect the life or health of the pregnant individual; and under which the State may not penalize individuals or entities for assisting a pregnant individual in exercising their right to abortion.
Supporters of the PAC include the ACLU of Arizona, Planned Parenthood Advocates of Arizona, NARAL Arizona, Affirm Sexual and Reproductive Health, Arizona List, and Healthcare Rising Arizona, noted KTARNews.
“This initiative will bring together a vast coalition of Arizonans from across the state who will stand up and declare that we should be able to make our own health care decisions without interference from politicians,” PAC Chair Dr. Candace Lew said in a press statement.
But pro-life activist Cathi Herrod, president of the Center for Arizona Policy Action, predicted voters are not likely to approve the proposed constitutional amendment.
“Our initial viewing of the measure reveals an extreme power grab by an industry that sees no limits to abortion,” she said in a statement. “That is not where Arizonans are on the issue, and we are confident that Arizonans will reject this radical measure.”
Herrod’s organization posted to Facebook Tuesday as well that the “abortion industry goes far beyond Roe with an inhumane ballot measure replete with intentionally vague language.”
“The measure would enshrine painful partial-birth abortion into Arizona’s constitution, while also stripping away safety precautions for women and the rights of parents,” the pro-life group stated.
Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America’s Arizona State Director Maria Birnbaum also said the proposed amendment “aims to create an Arizona unrecognizable to those of us who live here.”
“This proposal would impose painful late-term abortions up to birth,” Birnbaum emphasized. “Arizonans believe in protecting the unborn and serving their mothers and current law protects babies starting at 15 weeks, which is the point when science proves they can feel pain.”
“The ACLU and the abortion lobby’s extreme and barbaric vision for Arizona aligns with their own radical agenda to eliminate parental rights and eliminate any protection for the unborn, not what Arizonans believe,” the pro-life leader added. “This proposal is repugnant to the values of our state.”
Currently, abortions are prohibited in Arizona after 15 weeks gestational age.
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Susan Berry, PhD is national education editor at The Star News Network. Email tips to [email protected]
Photo “Abortion Supporters” by Debra Sweet. CC BY 2.0.
ghouls. a modern version of sacrificing children to Moloch