Ballot measures in Arizona and Nebraska ensuring abortion access advanced closer to a vote, with groups ushering in the measures saying they had collected enough signatures.
Nathaniel Weixel and Joseph Choi
Abortion rights activists are working to put amendments on the ballot in as many red and purple states as possible, and Nebraska and Arizona are among the 11 states that could see ballot measures.
Arizona for Abortion Access submitted 823,685 signatures, which they said represents 1 out of every 5 Arizona voters.
“This is the most signatures ever gathered for a ballot measure in Arizona history, which is a testament to the broad support among Arizona voters for restoring and protecting abortion access in Arizona,” the organization’s campaign manager Cheryl Bruce said in a statement.
Nebraska, meanwhile, looks poised to have two competing abortion ballot measures this year.
One measure would ban abortions after 12 weeks of pregnancy, while the other would protect abortion access until fetal viability, usually around 24 weeks. Abortion is currently banned after 12 weeks.
A Nebraskan coalition called Protect Our Rights, which is working to put a measure on the ballot that would enshrine abortion rights into the state constitution, announced that it had submitted 207,000 signatures.
The anti-abortion group Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America announced that a different coalition, Protect Women and Children, had submitted over 205,000 signatures for a measure that would codify the current 12-week ban into the state constitution.
Voters across several states have continually voted in favor of abortion access since the Dobbs decision in 2022. Ballot measures protecting abortion access have passed in states including California, Kansas, Kentucky, Ohio and Virginia. Democrats are hoping to ride this momentum through the 2024 election cycle.
