Arizona Supreme Court clears way for voters to decide on constitutional right to abortion

PHOENIX (AP) — The Arizona Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that a 200-word summary that advocates used to collect signatures is valid, clearing the way for voters to decide on the constitutional right to an abortion.

Under the measure, abortions would be allowed until an embryo or fetus could survive outside the womb, typically around 24 weeks. There are some exceptions for later-term abortions to save the mother’s life or to protect her physical or mental health.

The decision comes on the heels of a Thursday ballot printing deadline.

The Arizona Right to Life, the organization that sued the ballot measure campaign, argued that the petition summary was misleading.

The high court rejected that argument and also refuted the claim that the petition summary obscured the basic thrust of the ballot initiative by failing to mention it would overturn existing abortion laws.

"We have noted that "(r)easonable people can differ about the best way to describe a principal provision, but a court should not enmesh itself in such quarrels," the court wrote in its ruling.