Arizona Republicans weigh options to defeat abortion rights ballot measure, draft proposal reveals
(CNN) — Arizona Republicans are weighing their options to defeat a potential abortion rights ballot initiative this fall, including offering measures of their own that could draw support away from efforts to enshrine access to the procedure in the state constitution, according to a draft proposal obtained by CNN.
Posted — UpdatedUnder the proposal, Republicans could introduce two ballot initiatives that would restrict abortion to either six weeks or the beginning of the 15th week of pregnancy.
The proposal, drafted by Linley Wilson, the general counsel to Arizona House Republicans, comes days after the Arizona Supreme Court revived a 160-year-old near-total abortion ban. Arizona for Abortion Access, a coalition of abortion rights advocates, has gathered more than 500,000 signatures to put a constitutional amendment on the November ballot that would protect abortion until fetal viability, which doctors believe is around 22 to 24 weeks.
The document suggests that one of the “pros” of the strategy would be to make it “more likely that the [Arizona for Abortion Access] Initiative will fail” due to the vote being split, Wilson wrote. One downside, she added, would be that the initiatives would “transfe[r] regulation of abortion from the Legislature to voters.”
Wilson and House GOP Speaker Ben Toma did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The ballot initiatives mentioned were part of a multiphase approach designed to either block the passage of the Arizona for Abortion Access initiative or protect lawmakers’ ability to regulate abortion access.
Arizona for Abortion Access blasted the draft strategy memo, calling the effort a political scheme designed to create chaos.
“This shows yet again why Arizonans can’t leave our most basic and personal rights in the hands of politicians,” the group said in a statement.
The-CNN-Wire™ & © 2024 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.
Copyright 2024 by Cable News Network, Inc., a Time Warner Company. All rights reserved.
