A
new coalition, Arizona for Abortion Access, said it had filed
proposed language on Tuesday for a ballot measure to go before
voters in November 2024 with the Arizona secretary of state's
office. The political action committee includes the Arizona
chapters of the American Civil Liberties Union, Planned
Parenthood and NARAL Pro-Choice America, among others.
The proposed referendum joins similar efforts underway
elsewhere, as abortion rights advocates seek to appeal directly
to voters in states where Republican lawmakers have sought to
restrict or ban abortion access in the wake of the U.S. Supreme
Court's ruling eliminating a nationwide right.
Voters in Ohio on Tuesday were deciding whether to make it more
difficult to amend the state constitution, a Republican-backed
measure aimed squarely at stymieing a November referendum that
would enshrine abortion protections in the state constitution.
Last year, voters in conservative states Kansas and Kentucky
rejected measures that would have declared their state
constitutions do not protect abortion rights.
Arizona, once a reliably Republican state, has become a crucial
swing state in recent election cycles. Democratic President Joe
Biden narrowly carried the state in 2020 over Republican Donald
Trump.
Governor Katie Hobbs, who last year became the first Democrat to
win the governorship in 16 years, has vowed to support a
referendum on abortion.
The ballot measure could help drive Democratic turnout next
year, when Arizona is likely to be another key state in the
presidential election. The issue was widely seen as a political
liability for Republicans in last year's midterm elections.
The coalition will need to gather more than 380,000 signatures
from registered voters in order to qualify the referendum for
the 2024 ballot, according to the secretary of state's office.
(Reporting by Joseph Ax; Editing by Bernadette Baum)
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