Ruling denies voters a chance to modify state’s abortion ban on technicality about how documentation was submitted
Boxes of signatures supporting a proposed ballot measure to scale back Arkansas's abortion ban are delivered to the state capitol in Little Rock on 5 July.Boxes of signatures supporting a proposed ballot measure to scale back Arkansas's abortion ban are delivered to the state capitol in Little Rock on 5 July.
“Why are the respondent and the majority determined to keep this particular vote from the people?” wrote Justice Karen Baker, who is running against Wood for chief justice. “The majority has succeeded in its efforts to change the law in order to deprive the voters of the opportunity to vote on this issue, which is not the proper role of this court.”
The proposed amendment would have prohibited laws banning abortion in the first 20 weeks of gestation and allowed the procedure later on in cases of rape, incest, threats to the woman’s health or life, or if the fetus would be unlikely to survive birth. It would not have created a constitutional right to abortion.
In an earlier filing with the court, election officials said that 87,675 of the signatures submitted were collected by volunteers with the campaign. Election officials said it could not determine whether 912 of the signatures came from volunteer or paid canvassers. The court’s majority said only those signatures gathered by volunteers could be counted, falling short of the threshold.
Supporters of the measure said they followed the law with their documentation, including identifying each paid gatherer. They have also argued the abortion petitions are being handled differently than other initiative campaigns this year, pointing to similar filings by two other groups.
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