Abortion advocates said they got one step closer to putting abortion rights on the ballot in Arkansas this November, NBC News reported.
Concretely, Arkansas for Limited Government said its members collected the signatures of over 100,000 registered voters, almost 10,000 over the threshold they needed to submit before the deadline on July 5. The signatures come from at least 50 of the state's 75 counties, another requirement under state law.
The proposal would protect abortion access in the state constitution up to 18 weeks after conception. It would also do so further on for all cases resulting from rape, incest or a fatal fetal anomaly, as well as protecting the pregnant woman's life or physical health.
Almost all abortions are banned in the state as a result from a 2022 state law that went into effect after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe V. Wade that same year. The only exceptions are when the mother's life is at risk.
Arkansas is the ninth state where organizers have submitted the required amount of signatures to advance the legal process to put the issue on the ballot. Other two where such initiatives are being carried out (Maryland and New York) are controlled by lawmakers.
Abortion is officially on the ballot in Colorado, Maryland, Florida, Nevada, New York and South Dakota. Arkansas, Arizona, Missouri, Montana and Nebraska gathered the required signature but still face further steps before confirming that the measure can be voted on.
However, detractors of the initiative have fought it every step of the way and pledged to continue doing so. Moreover, even if it does make it to the ballot, it is not clear that it would be supported by voters. According to NBC News, many polls in the state show broad rejection of the premise that abortion should be legal in all or most situations.
Effects of banning abortion in most cases are showing in states that have passed such laws in recent years. A June study published in JAMA Pediatrics, for example, showed that such a law in Texas is linked to a significant rise in infant deaths.
The study compared infant death rates in Texas from 2018 to 2022 with those in 28 other states. The data mentioned deaths of newborns 28 days or younger and infants up to 12 months old.
In Texas, infant deaths increased by almost 13% in the year after Texas Senate Bill 8 (SB8) was passed, rising from 1,985 in 2021 to 2,240 in 2022. Nationwide, infant deaths rose by about 2% during the same period.
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