Arizonans vote to extend abortion rights in ballot initiative!

Phoenix, Arizona - Voters in Arizona cast their ballots on Tuesday in favor of extending abortion rights in the state until fetal viability.

A table with literature calling for a YES vote on Proposition 139, the right to abortion initiative, is displayed at the entrance to the Murphy-Wilmot Library in Tucson, Arizona.
A table with literature calling for a YES vote on Proposition 139, the right to abortion initiative, is displayed at the entrance to the Murphy-Wilmot Library in Tucson, Arizona.  © Olivier TOURON / AFP

Abortion is currently limited to 15 weeks of pregnancy in Arizona, a key swing state where Democrats had hoped the referendum would encourage people to head to the polls and also vote for Vice President Kamala Harris.

The state remains to be called for the presidential race.

Pregnant people in Arizona will now have the right to an abortion until fetal viability, usually around 24 weeks, under an amendment to the state constitution, whereas the procedure had previously been banned after 15 weeks.

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"We did it! Arizona has overwhelmingly voted to protect abortion access! We proved, yet again, that Arizona is a state that values freedom and individual rights," Arizona for Abortion Access shared on X.

A total of 10 states had abortion measures on the ballot – nearly all giving voters the chance to expand access or enshrine abortion rights into law.

Florida rejected a measure that would have increased access. The defeat marked the first pro-abortion rights ballot measure to fail since the Supreme Court in June 2022 overturned Roe v. Wade, the ruling that guaranteed the federal right to the procedure.

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Abortion rights has been a key voter concern in the 2024 White House race between Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Kamala Harris.
Abortion rights has been a key voter concern in the 2024 White House race between Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Kamala Harris.  © REUTERS

The ballot initiatives, which ran in parallel to the presidential election, come more than two years after the Supreme Court overturned federal abortion rights, leaving the matter up to states.

Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris, who positioned herself as a defender of reproductive and abortion rights, made a point of highlighting the plight of a number of women who had suffered serious complications or even death due to abortion restrictions after the Supreme Court decision.

Those cases often were the result of health care providers who were reluctant to intervene in the case of miscarriages or other problems for fear of being accused of performing an illegal abortion.

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The right to an abortion was dismantled by a Supreme Court shaped under former president Donald Trump, who appointed three justices to the panel.

Since the federal right to the procedure was overturned, many women have been forced to travel to other states to have an abortion.

Donald Trump has declared victory in the 2024 election, with a handful of swing states still yet to be called.

Cover photo: Olivier TOURON / AFP

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