In the general election this November, Arizonans across the state will head to the polls to vote. Abortion has been a heavily debated issue in the past couple of years, especially with the overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022. One of the most contentious propositions on the ballot in Arizona this year is Proposition 139: the Right to Abortion Initiative. 

According to Ballotpedia, Proposition 139 would “amend the Arizona Constitution to establish that every individual has the fundamental right to abortion that the state of Arizona may not interfere with before the point of fetal viability.” 

The ballot measure would also prohibit laws that penalize a person for assisting an individual in getting an abortion. 

After the point of fetal viability, abortions would be allowed when necessary to protect the life or health of the pregnant individual. However, this choice would be in the judgment of a healthcare professional.

“In the post-viability space the medical professionals’ judgment will be the one that is followed, but in the pre-viability period for the fetus, there is to be no intrusion into the pregnant person’s ability to access abortion care,” Christopher L. Griffin Jr., director of empirical & policy research at UA James E. Rogers College of Law, said .

Fetal viability is defined by the proposition as the point of the pregnancy when there’s a significant chance that the fetus could survive outside of the mother’s womb. 

“By many reports, 20 weeks is the earliest that we have documented fetal viability. Usually, people speak of a range between 22 and 24 weeks,” Griffin said.

According to the proposition, “This right would not be interfered with unless justified by a compelling state interest […] a compelling state interest is defined as a law or regulation enacted for the limited purpose of improving or maintaining the health of the individual seeking abortion care that does not infringe on that individual’s autonomous decision making.”

When it comes to government regulation, the state wouldn’t be able to get between the pregnant individual and their doctor when the abortion constitutes a life-saving or health-enhancing measure, according to Griffin.

Abortion is legal in Arizona up to 15 weeks of pregnancy. But there have been abortion actions before now that led to this decision.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Dobbs. v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization that overturned Roe. v. Wade removed the constitutional right to abortion. This decision placed abortion policy decisions with the states, with Arizona deciding on abortion access being up to the first 15 weeks in 2022.

On April 9, the Arizona Supreme Court ruled in favor of a Civil War-era abortion ban. In May, lawmakers voted to repeal this 1864 abortion ban, which leaves the 2022 measure as the law of Arizona.

According to Griffin, one of the strengths of the proposition is that it’s trying to return Arizona to a pre-Dobbs state of affairs.

“Abortion access in Arizona would look exactly like it did from 1973 to 2022, which is a medical procedure that is done in accordance with the standard, widely accepted practices of the medical community,” Griffin said.

According to Griffin, when considering the downsides, ballot propositions don’t cover every contingency. For example, questions concerning what exactly it means to assist a person in obtaining an abortion are likely to play out in litigation if the proposition passes. 

Despite the proposition’s benefits and drawbacks, putting abortion access in Arizona’s constitution would reflect that this is something significant to the people within and outside of the state.

“By enshrining a fundamental right in the state’s constitution, it would reveal […] the voting public’s sense that this is something that should be granted with very, very few restrictions as possible to people who get pregnant in the state of Arizona. And that the right to make reproductive choices of one’s own, up to a certain point, is something that should not be infringed,” Griffin said.

One of the supporters of this proposition is UA Planned Parenthood Generation Action, an organization on campus that educates the community about reproductive rights and reproductive health.

“I think that it is a significant step towards people gaining the freedom to make their own health care decisions, which is the basis of abortion access in general,” UA sophomore and Vice President of UAPPGEN, Amara Williams, said.

“This isn’t about politics, this isn’t about religion, this isn’t about morals, this is about a resource that everybody can have access to,” Williams said.

Even though Williams always believed in abortion access, joining UAPPGEN opened their eyes to the interconnectedness of this proposition and how it affects the community.

“When we say intersectionality, there are a lot of different communities that can be affected by abortion bans or by abortion access, such as people of color, different genders, […] [or] different income levels,” Williams said. 

In Williams’ own experience coming from a low-income family, it was difficult making the far drive to the closest clinic so that their mother could get a medical emergency abortion.

One of the opposers of this proposition is the organization It Goes Too Far, and according to the organization they disagree with the healthcare standpoint.

“Unfortunately, most voters are not told that under this unregulated, unlimited abortion amendment they will lose the required medical doctor, critical and commonsense safety standards for girls and women seeking abortion, and moms and dads will be shut out of their minor daughter’s abortion decision, leaving her to go through the painful and scary process alone. Abortion is legal in Arizona up to 15 weeks and we have common sense safety precautions to protect girls and women. It’s reckless to lose those safety precautions just to expand abortion beyond what most voters support,” Cindy Dahlgren, the spokeswoman for It Goes Too Far, said.

According to this campaign’s healthcare professionals’ declaration, “We may be Pro-Life, we may be Pro-Choice, and we may take a position without one of those labels. We are divided on the issue of abortion, but we are united in this: The health and safety of all patients must be our top priority.”

As of Oct. 18, 11 statewide abortion ballot measures were certified for the general election ballot: Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Maryland, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New York, Nevada and South Dakota. This is the most on record for a single year.

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