The Arkansas Supreme Court has upheld the rejection of an abortion-rights ballot initiative, preventing it from appearing on the November Election Day ballot. The court supported Secretary of State John Thurston’s decision to reject the measure due to the campaign’s failure to properly disclose information about paid canvassers.
The proposed amendment aimed to prevent the state legislature from enacting an abortion ban within the first 20 weeks of pregnancy. While nearly 88,000 signatures were submitted, the state could not verify whether some signatures were gathered by volunteers or paid canvassers. Arkansas law requires campaigns to provide specific documentation for paid canvassers, which the campaign failed to do.
Big win for the rule of law as the Arkansas Supreme Court confirmed today that the abortion advocates failed to follow the law that other ballot committees had successfully followed for over a decade since Governor Mike Beebe signed the law governing paid canvassers in 2013.
The… pic.twitter.com/VzHGzERn2l
— Attorney General Tim Griffin (@AGTimGriffin) August 22, 2024
Attorney General Tim Griffin praised the ruling as a “big win for the rule of law.” Unlike similar amendments in other states, the Arkansas proposal did not seek to create a constitutional right to abortion but did include exceptions for rape, incest, the health of the mother, and fatal fetal anomalies.
Ten other states will have abortion rights on the ballot in November, following the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade in 2022.
