The Quickie: Arizona for Abortion Access Launches Petition Collection Effort
For Immediate Release: Sept. 22, 2023
Welcome to “The Quickie” — Planned Parenthood Action Fund’s daily tipsheet on the top health care & reproductive rights stories of the day. You can read “The Quickie'' online here.
In today’s Quickie: Arizona launches petition for abortion ballot amendment, early voting begins in VA for crucial election, and Ohio finalizes misleading language in abortion ballot measure.
ARIZONA FOR ABORTION ACCESS LAUNCHES PETITION COLLECTION EFFORT: Yesterday, Arizona for Abortion Access launched its paid and volunteer petition gathering effort to put abortion on the ballot in 2024 and enshrine this fundamental right in Arizona’s constitution for generations to come. Later this year, the Arizona Supreme Court will also hear a case that could fully reinstate a near-total abortion ban from more than a century ago.
Dr. Jill Gibson, chief medical officer for Planned Parenthood Arizona spoke about the critical need to ensure abortion access in Arizona, where a 15-week ban is in effect, "As an obstetrician/gynecologist who has treated hundreds of patients seeking abortion care over the past 13 years, I can tell you with authority that the truth is, abortion has always been a reality and a necessity…. Our state's current ban on abortion after 15 weeks remains a significant barrier for my patients to receive the health care that they need and deserve."
The campaign must collect 383,923 valid signatures from Arizona voters by July 3, 2024. Recent polling shows that 62% of Arizonans support safe and legal abortion.
Read more at The Arizona Republic and The Arizona Mirror.
ABORTION ON THE BALLOT IN VIRGINIA: Today is the first day of early voting in Virginia, where every seat in the state legislature is up for grabs. As the Associated Press notes, “Virginia is the next big battleground for abortion rights,” because one seat could be the difference between a pro-reproductive rights majority and a majority that would ban abortion. Jamie Lockhart, executive director of Planned Parenthood Advocates of Virginia, emphasized what’s at stake this election:
“Today, voters start heading to the polls in the first General Assembly election since Roe v. Wade was overturned,” said Lockhart. “Since June 2022, we have seen state after state in the south ban abortion. Through it all, Virginia has been a key access point for patients seeking care. If anti-abortion politicians win a trifecta, they will ban abortion in Virginia. We must elect strong majorities in both chambers to stop any abortion ban from getting to Governor Youngkin who would 'happily and gleefully' sign it into law. To be clear, abortion is on the ballot in Virginia. Virginians overwhelmingly agree that decisions about abortion should be left to a patient and their medical provider - not politicians.”
MISLEADING LANGUAGE FOR OHIO ABORTION RIGHTS BALLOT FINALIZED: This week, the Ohio Supreme Court largely approved the inaccurate and misleading ballot summary language for the abortion rights amendment drafted by the state Ballot Board, ordering just one minor revision. Last month, Ohioans United for Reproductive Rights (OURR) sued over the politicized and biased language, with the hopes of getting the amendment’s full text (which you can read at readtheamendment.com) in front of voters when they head to the polls.
OURR spokesperson Lauren Blauvelt responded to the news saying, “At every turn, extremist politicians in Ohio are trying to take away our rights and mislead voters, and today was more of the same. It’s simple. Voting Yes on Issue 1 puts Ohioans back in charge of their families’ personal medical decisions and stops government from interfering. Voting NO hands your most personal family decisions over to the GOVERNMENT.”
With November 7 less than two months away, OURR will continue educating voters on what the measure actually does and the importance of voting yes. Among the flaws in the Ballot Board’s language that the Supreme Court rubber stamped: using “unborn child” rather than the medically accurate term “fetus”; making false claims about the amendment’s scope; and also failing to mention miscarriage care, birth control and fertility treatment.
More from Cleveland.com