Legal challenges loom as abortion is enshrined in Arizona’s constitution

PHOENIX (AP) — Arizona top officials certified the state’s election results Monday, including voters’ approval of a measure that expands abortion access from 15 weeks to the point of fetal viability.

The victory for reproductive rights groups sets the stage for their next battle: challenging other laws on the books in Arizona they say are too restrictive. The 15-week cutoff, for example, allows exceptions only when the mother’s life is at risk.

Absent a court order or legislative action, those laws will remain unchanged, even if they conflict with the voter-approved measure. Opponents of the constitutional amendment are preparing a defense.

For now, providers will have discretion in performing abortions beyond 15 weeks. Legal challenges are expected within days, Attorney General Kris Mayes said at a news conference celebrating expanded access.

"The position of the state of Arizona will be that we agree that abortion is legal in our state," Mayes said.

Arizona was one of five states where voters approved ballot measures in the 2024 general election to add the right to an abortion to their state constitutions. Nevada voters also approved an amendment, but they’ll need to pass it again in 2026 for it to take effect. Another that bans discrimination on the basis of "pregnancy outcomes" prevailed in New York.

Abortion has long been an important political issue in the U.S., but it’s become a defining one since the U.S. Supreme Court in 2022 overturned Roe v. Wade and cleared the way for states to ban or restrict access. Most Republican-controlled states have done so, and abortion rights groups have been pushing back through ballot measures. Earlier this year, Arizonans faced the possibility of living under a near-total abortion ban.

Chris Love, a spokesperson for Arizona for Abortion Access, said the constitutional amendment is the culmination of two years of hard work.

"We’re so excited to see that this is finally coming to fruition," Love said Monday. "It’s a lovely day."

Cathi Herrod, president of the socially conservative Center for Arizona Policy, said the organization is anticipating legal challenges to current laws regulating abortion and is preparing to "intervene where appropriate."

Among those current laws is one that requires patients to have an ultrasound at least 24 hours before the procedure, with the option to view the image and hear an explanation of what it shows. Another criminalizes abortions sought solely because of a genetic abnormality.

"All the laws that have currently been on the books are under question and are subject to possible challenges at some point," said Darrell Hill, policy director at the American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona.

Planned Parenthood affiliates in Missouri sued immediately after a ballot measure there passed earlier this month seeking to have bans and other abortion-restricting laws invalidated. The circumstances are different there because that state currently has a ban on abortion at all stages of pregnancy and no clinics are providing it. A hearing is scheduled for Dec. 4.

Earlier in the day, Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs contrasted Monday’s statewide canvass of election results with the one four years ago, which she said was held against the backdrop of "raging conspiracies, attempts to stop certification across the country," leading to the Jan. 6 insurrection. She said she was grateful this time was different.

Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes said voters across the state cast 3,428,011 ballots in the 2024 election, up 7,446 ballots from 2020.

The turnout of registered voters remained relatively unchanged, at just below 80%. Turnout was 79% for the 2020 election and 78% for the 2024 election. ___ Associated Press writer Geoff Mulvihill in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, contributed to this report. Sandoval is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.