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ARKANSAS COURT REMOVES ABORTION QUESTION FROM BALLOT  
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Julia Conley
August 22, 2024
CommonDreams
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_ "This effort has generated a wave of fiercely engaged Arkansas
women," said one organizer. "We are outraged. We will not back down.
And we will remember this in November." _

A young demonstrator holds a sign calling on supporters to sign a
petition to get an abortion rights amendment on state ballots on July
6, 2024 in Little Rock, Arkansas. , Arkansans for Limited Government

 

Abortion rights defenders in Arkansas said Thursday it was "a dark
day" after the state's Supreme Court ruled a ballot measure that would
enshrine stronger reproductive rights protections for people in the
state was ineligible for November election ballots.

The court ruled [[link removed]]
4-3 in favor of arguments presented by Republican officials including
Secretary of State John Thurston and Attorney General Tim Griffin, who
said
[[link removed]]
organizers with Arkansans for Limited Government (AFLG)—which
submitted more than 101,000 signatures to secure the amendment for the
ballot—had failed to correctly submit paperwork verifying that paid
canvassers had been properly trained.

AFLG strategy director Rebecca Bobrow expressed agreement with Justice
Karen Baker's dissent, which accused Thurston of making up statutory
requirements "out of whole cloth" and of being "determined to keep
this particular vote from the people" at all costs.

AFLG proposed an amendment that would have allowed people in Arkansas
to obtain abortion care up to 18 weeks after fertilization, with
additional exceptions for incest, rape, and fetal anomalies that would
make it impossible for a fetus to survive after birth. Arkansas
currently has one of the strictest abortion bans in the U.S., with
abortion care allowed only in medical emergencies.

When Thurston rejected
[[link removed]] the
group's petition last month, saying it had failed to submit an
official statement regarding the training of its paid canvassers, AFLG
sued to force the state to count all the signatures, which surpassed
the 90,704 that were needed for the ballot initiative to be approved.

About 14,000 of the group's signatures
[[link removed]] were
collected by paid canvassers, so the number of signatures gathered by
unpaid volunteers—87,675—fell below the threshold.

As the _Arkansas Times_ reported
[[link removed]],
the secretary of state's handbook on petitions states that an
affidavit certifying that canvassers received training is a
requirement for submitting petitions—but the three dissenting
justices on Thursday wrote "that the actual statutory language appears
to show that the paperwork oversight should not be fatal to the
group's effort. And the handbook cannot overrule the law."

"Despite collecting signatures from more than 100,000 Arkansans—and
despite the fact that the plain language of the statutes appeared to
show that the review process for the petition should have
continued—the court ruled that paperwork omission was fatal to the
group's effort," wrote David Ramsey and Matt Campbell at the_ Arkansas
Times_. "For those following the case, this has always been the fear:
Even if the law was on their side, the majority of the court opposes
abortion. Ultimately the law is what the Supreme Court says it is.
Among the grab-bag of flimsy arguments offered by Attorney General Tim
Griffin, they found a couple they could stretch to suit the purpose of
disqualifying the abortion petition."

Baker wrote in her dissent that "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."

Compared to other ballot initiatives, she added, Thurston and the
court's right-wing majority treated the abortion right amendment
"differently for the sole purpose of preventing the people from voting
on this issue."

Ramsey and Campbell wrote that AFLG could theoretically file a lawsuit
in federal court challenging the ruling.

"But for procedural and timing reasons, that is extremely unlikely to
help," they wrote. "In all likelihood, it's over: Citizens will not
have the opportunity to vote to restore abortion rights in November."

Arkansas state Sen. Greg Leding (D-30) called the ruling "maddening
and heartbreaking" and urged voters to consider abortion rights when
they cast their ballots in November, regardless of whether the
amendment is on ballots.

 

Abortion rights defenders in Arkansas said Thursday it was "a dark
day" after the state's Supreme Court ruled a ballot measure that would
enshrine stronger reproductive rights protections for people in the
state was ineligible for November election ballots.

The court ruled [[link removed]]
4-3 in favor of arguments presented by Republican officials including
Secretary of State John Thurston and Attorney General Tim Griffin, who
said
[[link removed]]
organizers with Arkansans for Limited Government (AFLG)—which
submitted more than 101,000 signatures to secure the amendment for the
ballot—had failed to correctly submit paperwork verifying that paid
canvassers had been properly trained.

AFLG strategy director Rebecca Bobrow expressed agreement with Justice
Karen Baker's dissent, which accused Thurston of making up statutory
requirements "out of whole cloth" and of being "determined to keep
this particular vote from the people" at all costs.

AFLG proposed an amendment that would have allowed people in Arkansas
to obtain abortion care up to 18 weeks after fertilization, with
additional exceptions for incest, rape, and fetal anomalies that would
make it impossible for a fetus to survive after birth. Arkansas
currently has one of the strictest abortion bans in the U.S., with
abortion care allowed only in medical emergencies.

When Thurston rejected
[[link removed]] the
group's petition last month, saying it had failed to submit an
official statement regarding the training of its paid canvassers, AFLG
sued to force the state to count all the signatures, which surpassed
the 90,704 that were needed for the ballot initiative to be approved.

About 14,000 of the group's signatures
[[link removed]] were
collected by paid canvassers, so the number of signatures gathered by
unpaid volunteers—87,675—fell below the threshold.

As the _Arkansas Times_ reported
[[link removed]],
the secretary of state's handbook on petitions states that an
affidavit certifying that canvassers received training is a
requirement for submitting petitions—but the three dissenting
justices on Thursday wrote "that the actual statutory language appears
to show that the paperwork oversight should not be fatal to the
group's effort. And the handbook cannot overrule the law."

"Despite collecting signatures from more than 100,000 Arkansans—and
despite the fact that the plain language of the statutes appeared to
show that the review process for the petition should have
continued—the court ruled that paperwork omission was fatal to the
group's effort," wrote David Ramsey and Matt Campbell at the_ Arkansas
Times_. "For those following the case, this has always been the fear:
Even if the law was on their side, the majority of the court opposes
abortion. Ultimately the law is what the Supreme Court says it is.
Among the grab-bag of flimsy arguments offered by Attorney General Tim
Griffin, they found a couple they could stretch to suit the purpose of
disqualifying the abortion petition."

Baker wrote in her dissent that "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."

Compared to other ballot initiatives, she added, Thurston and the
court's right-wing majority treated the abortion right amendment
"differently for the sole purpose of preventing the people from voting
on this issue."

Ramsey and Campbell wrote that AFLG could theoretically file a lawsuit
in federal court challenging the ruling.

"But for procedural and timing reasons, that is extremely unlikely to
help," they wrote. "In all likelihood, it's over: Citizens will not
have the opportunity to vote to restore abortion rights in November."

Arkansas state Sen. Greg Leding (D-30) called the ruling "maddening
and heartbreaking" and urged voters to consider abortion rights when
they cast their ballots in November, regardless of whether the
amendment is on ballots.

Bobrow told supporters that AFLG's fight "isn't over" despite the
"infuriating" decision.

"We can't—and won't—rest until Arkansas women have access to safe,
standard healthcare and the autonomy to make decisions about their
bodies free from governmental interference," said Bobrow. "This effort
has generated a wave of fiercely engaged Arkansas women. We are
outraged. We will not back down. And we will remember this in
November."

 

* abortion rights
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* abortion ballot questions
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