PHOENIX (AP) — Pro-choice advocates are set to deliver about 800,000 petition signatures Wednesday in hopes of getting the abortion rights issue on Arizona’s November general election ballot.
Organizers said 383,923 valid signatures are needed for the amendment measure, which would enshrine in the state constitution a fundamental right to an abortion, to qualify to go before voters.
Activists in two other states — Nebraska and Arkansas — also are planning to submit signatures this week for a ballot measure about abortion. If successful, those states and Arizona will join five other states where the issue is set to go before voters this year: Colorado, Florida, Maryland, Nevada and South Dakota.
Arizona is a swing state in this year’s election, and the abortion issue is a key part of Democratic campaigns.
Opponents of the amendment measure have said it goes too far and could lead to unlimited and unregulated abortions in Arizona.
Officials with Arizona for Abortion Access, a coalition of groups including the American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona and Planned Parenthood of Arizona, said they reached the 500,000-signature mark by April — months ahead of the July 3 deadline. The coalition planned to turn in hundreds of boxes of signed petitions to the Arizona Secretary of State’s office Wednesday morning.