Huzzah! Arizona, Missouri Abortion Rights Measures Defeat Insane Anti-Abortion Attacks

Voters can now potentially reject Arizona’s 15-week ban and Missouri’s total ban and enshrine a right to abortion in the states’ respective Constitutions.

By Kylie Cheung  |  August 13, 2024 | 4:43pm
Photo: Getty Images AbortionPolitics Abortion
Huzzah! Arizona, Missouri Abortion Rights Measures Defeat Insane Anti-Abortion Attacks

On Monday evening, the Arizona secretary of state’s office confirmed that Arizona’s measure to enshrine a right to abortion in the state Constitution has been approved for the November ballot, giving voters a chance to repeal the state’s 15-week ban with Proposition 139. The following day, the Missouri secretary of state’s office told organizers that it, too, has approved a similar measure—Amendment 3—for the November ballot, which would protect a right to abortion until fetal viability. 

Arizona organizers submitted over 820,000 signatures; the secretary of state’s office estimates at least 577,971 of these were valid signatures. This is well over the state’s 383,923 requirement, shattering the record for the number of valid signatures ever gathered for a ballot initiative, per NBC. “At every turn, opponents of reproductive freedom and the right of voters to decide for themselves have challenged this grassroots, hugely popular amendment,” Kelly Hall, Executive Director of the Fairness Project, said in a statement. “The hard work of this coalition and its volunteers has paid off… As we’ve seen in seven other states already, when voters have a say, they have chosen reproductive freedom.”

To Hall’s point, anti-abortion activists wielded a range of tactics to try and stop the measure, including claiming in a lawsuit that signatures were invalid because organizers misled voters. They also tried—unsuccessfully—to get the ballot measure to say “unborn child” instead of “fetus.” Politico further reported in March that Arizona anti-abortion activists were openly surveilling, stalking, video recording, and harassing organizers as they collected signatures.

In April, the state Supreme Court also greenlit a Civil War-era, total, criminal abortion ban. Before it could take effect, state legislators were able to repeal it, leaving just the 15-week ban. Cheryl Bruce, campaign manager for Arizona for Abortion Access, called Proposition 139 “a huge win.”

Meanwhile, in Missouri, organizers are required to submit at least 171,000 valid signatures to get on the ballot. Missouri Constitutional Freedom, the coalition that led the charge on the abortion rights measure, submitted over 380,000 in May. On a Tuesday press call, Rachel Sweet, campaign director of Missouri Constitutional Freedom, called Amendment 3 a “monumental achievement” that was won “despite delays, court battles, and political maneuvers designed to prevent this day from ever coming.”

In September, Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey (R) obstructed the measure by pushing the baseless claim that it would cost upwards of $12 billion to put it on the ballot because a right to abortion, he lied, would decimate the workforce and tank the state’s economy. Then, the state’s Republican secretary of state, Jay Ashcroft, wrote a summary of the proposed measure with his own lie that it would allow abortion “up until birth.” All of this legal back-and-forth delayed reproductive rights organizers from being able to begin collecting signatures for months. 

While signature collection was underway earlier this year, anti-abortion activists subjected voters to an onslaught of disinformation, telling them via mass texts, “Out-of-town strangers are trying to collect your sensitive personal data for extremist groups. … Don’t give them your personal info on a petition. Protect yourself from fraud & theft!” They were referring to routine signature collection from abortion rights organizers, gathering signatories’ names and registered addresses as voters.

Mallory Schwarz, executive director of Abortion Action Missouri, told reporters that for two years, the impacts of the total abortion ban have decimated the health system: “The more numbers come out, the worse it gets.” Tori Schafer, director of policy and campaigns at the ACLU of Missouri added during the press conference how women experiencing miscarriages were getting turned away from ERs and survivors of rape and incest were denied care. “We filed this amendment over a year ago, fought and won every lawsuit against power-hungry politicians, and activated hundreds of volunteers who collected more than 380,000 signatures,” Schafer said. 

Sweet told reporters that Missouri Constitutional Freedom is prepared for additional legal challenges from anti-abortion activists and state Republican officials. “But just like every lawsuit and attack before, we’re confident the courts will rule with us,” Sweet said. “Because their attacks are not based in fact for legal validity.”

If the ballot measure is successful, Missouri law requires it to take effect within 30 days. Schafer acknowledged to reporters that even before Missouris’ total ban took effect in 2022, access to care was severely strained. “Our team is going to start rebuilding access on day one,” she said.

 
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