PHOENIX (AP) — Arizona voters are set to decide whether the right to abortion will be guaranteed in the state constitution; It’s a vote that could bolster access after the presidential battleground came close to a near-total ban earlier this year.

Arizona is one of nine states abortion on the ballot.

Abortion rights advocates are hoping for a win that could expand access beyond the state’s current 15-week limit to the point of fetal viability, a term used by health care providers to describe whether a pregnancy is expected to continue developing normally or whether a fetus is present. can survive outside the womb. Doctors say this happens after 21 weeks, but there is no defined time frame.

Advocates are also counting on the measure to increase interest among Democrats in pushing the party’s vote up and down the ballot. When Republicans running in tight races take up the ballot measure, they generally do not dissuade voters from supporting it, but some, like Senate candidate Kari Lake, say they personally voted against it. GOP U.S. Rep. Juan Ciscomani, whose battleground congressional district includes Tucson, released an ad saying he rejects “the extremes on abortion.”

Arizona has been rocked by recent legal and legislative battles focused on abortion. In April, the state Supreme Court cleared the way for implementation of a long-defunct 1864 law that banned nearly all abortions. The legislature quickly repealed it.

In addition to the abortion ballot measure itself, this issue could affect legislative races in the state and lead to voters being disenfranchised from over-voting state Supreme Court justices and Supreme Court justices.

Arizona for Abortion Access, the coalition leading the ballot measure campaign, has far outpaced opposition campaign It Goes Too Far in fundraising. Opponents argue the measure is too broad because the post-survival physical and mental health exemption is so broad that it effectively legalizes abortion beyond feasibility. The measure allows post-viability abortion if necessary to preserve the life or physical or mental health of the mother.

The U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 decision in Roe v. Since Wade overturned his case, abortion rights supporters have prevailed on all seven abortion-related ballot questions, including in conservative-leaning states.

Voters in Arizona are divided on abortion. Arizona State University senior Maddy Pennell said the prospect of a near-total ban on abortion left her “depressed” and strengthened her desire to vote for abortion.

“I feel very strongly about access to abortion,” she said.

Kyle Lee, an independent Arizona voter, does not support the abortion ballot measure.

“The whole of abortion, in my opinion, is murder from beginning to end,” Lee said.

Civil War-era prohibition also shaped the contours of tight legislative races. State Sen. Shawnna Bolick and State Rep. Matt Gress are among a handful of vulnerable Republican incumbents in competitive districts who are crossing party lines to deliver the final blow to repeal votes; This vote will be tested as both parties vie for control of the narrow field. GOP-held state legislature.

Both Phoenix-area lawmakers were scolded by some Republican colleagues for siding with Democrats. Gress introduced a motion on the House floor to initiate repeal of the 1864 law. Announcing her vote to cancel to her Senate colleagues, Bolick gave a 20-minute speech describing her three difficult pregnancies.

Gress will be elected to his seat for the first time in 2022, while Bolick faces voters for the first time. He was appointed by the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors to fill a vacant seat in 2023. Because he was campaigning, he did not highlight his role in the repeal vote, instead raising traditional conservative issues – one of his signs reads “Bolick Supports Blue.”

Another question before voters is whether to move away from retention elections for state Supreme Court justices and Supreme Court justices put on the ballot by Republican lawmakers hoping to protect two justices who favored allowing Civil War-era prohibition to be enforced.

Under the current system, voters decide every four to six years whether judges and justices will remain on the bench. The proposed measure would allow judges and justices to remain on the bench without a popular vote, unless triggered by a felony conviction, crimes involving fraud and dishonesty, personal bankruptcy or mortgage foreclosure.

Shawnna Bolick’s husband, Supreme Court Justice Clint Bolick, is one of two conservative justices running. retention vote. Judge Bolick and Judge Kathryn Hackett King, both appointed by former Republican Gov. Doug Ducey, sided with the high court majority to allow near-full implementation of the 1864 ban. Abortion rights activists campaigned for their removal, but if the ballot measure passes, they would remain in office even if they do not win a follow-up election.

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