Voters in Arizona and Montana can decide in November whether to protect their land the right to abortion in their state constitutions.
The Arizona Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that a 200-word summary that abortion rights advocates used to gather signatures for a ballot measure is valid, allowing the issue to remain on the ballot.
The Arizona Secretary of State’s Office said last week There were 577,971 signatures certified, far exceeding the required number the coalition supporting the proposal had to submit in order to put the issue before voters.
Montana Secretary of State Christi Jacobsen on Tuesday approved Montana’s constitutional initiative for the November ballot.
Both measures would allow abortions until the fetus is viable: the point at which a fetus can survive outside the womb, usually around 24 weeks.
In Arizona, there are some exceptions for post-viability abortions to save the mother’s life or protect her physical or mental health. Montana’s measure allows later abortions if necessary to protect the mother’s life or health.
Montana’s initiative would enshrine in the Constitution a 1999 state Supreme Court ruling that the constitutional right to privacy includes a patient’s right to have an abortion with a health care provider of their choice. Supporters sought to protect the right as Republican lawmakers bills passed to restrict abortion rights.
Voters in more than half a dozen states will decide on abortion measures this fall.
Since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, Democrats have made abortion rights a central message, a key part of their efforts in this year’s election.
Since then, seven states have put questions on abortion to voters: California, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Montana, Ohio and Vermont. In all of them, pro-abortion advocates won.
“Since Roe was overturned, anti-abortion politicians have used every trick in the book to strip away our freedoms and ban abortion altogether,” Martha Fuller, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Montana, said in a statement. “During that time, we have worked together to bring this issue to the attention of voters.”
Recent decisions by the Arizona Supreme Court come ahead of a Thursday deadline for printing ballots. Montana’s ballot must be certified by Thursday.
Arizona justices sided with Republican lawmakers in a separate case involving last week’s abortion vote. The proposal sought to allow voter information leaflets to refer to an embryo or fetus as an “unborn human being.” That language will not appear on ballots.
In the latest abortion case, Arizona Right to Life filed a lawsuit over the petition summary, claiming it was misleading.
The Supreme Court justices rejected that argument, as well as the claim that the petition’s summary for the proposed amendment failed to mention that it would overturn existing abortion laws if approved by voters. The court noted in its ruling that “reasonable people” can disagree about how best to describe a key provision of a ballot measure, but a court may not intervene in those disputes.
“Regardless of the ruling, we look forward to working with our pro-life partners across the state to continue educating voters about this ambiguous language,” said Susan Haugland, spokesperson for Arizona Right to Life.
Arizona for Abortion Access, which launched the initiative, said the ruling is a “huge victory” and that advocates will work day and night to encourage voters to support the initiative.
“We are confident that Arizona voters will make history this fall by enshrining a fundamental abortion right in our state once and for all,” the group said in a statement.
