PHOENIX (AP) — Arizona voters are set to decide whether to guarantee the right to abortion in the state constitution — a vote that could solidify access after the presidential battleground nearly got a ban almost entirely earlier this year.

Arizona is one of nine states with abortion on the ballot.

Abortion rights advocates are hoping for a victory that could expand access beyond the state’s current 15-week limit to the point of fetal viability, a term used by health care providers to describe whether a pregnancy is expected to continue to develop normally or whether a fetus could survive outside the womb. Doctors say this happens after 21 weeks, although there is no set time frame.

Supporters are also counting on the measure to generate interest among Democrats in voting the party line in either direction. When Republicans running in tough elections address the ballot measure, they generally don’t dissuade voters from supporting it, even if some, like Senate candidate Kari Lake, say they are personally voting against it. Republican Party Rep. Juan Ciscomani, whose congressional district includes Tucson, released an ad saying he rejects “extremes on abortion.”

Arizona has been rocked by recent legal and legislative battles centered on abortion. In April, the state Supreme Court cleared the way to enforce a long-pending 1864 law banning nearly all abortions. The legislature quickly repealed it.

In addition to the abortion ballot measure itself, the issue could influence state legislative races and lead to the elimination of voters’ voices on retaining Superior Court and Supreme Court justices. States.

Arizona for Abortion Access, the coalition leading the election campaign, has far outpaced the opposition’s It Goes Too Far campaign in fundraising. Opponents argue that the measure goes too far because the post-viability physical and mental health exemption is so broad that it effectively legalizes post-viability abortion. The measure allows post-viability abortions if they are necessary to protect the life or physical or mental health of the mother.

Since the United States Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, abortion rights supporters prevailed in all seven abortion ballot questions, including in conservative-leaning states.

Arizona voters are divided on abortion. Maddy Pennell, a student at Arizona State University, said the possibility of a near-total ban on abortion made her “depressed” and strengthened her desire to vote for the abortion ballot measure.

“I feel very strongly about access to abortion,” she said.

Kyle Lee, an independent voter from Arizona, does not support the abortion ballot measure.

“Every abortion is, in my opinion, murder from start to finish,” Lee said.

Prohibition dating to the Civil War also shaped the contours of tight legislative races. State Sen. Shawnna Bolick and state Rep. Matt Gress are among a handful of vulnerable Republican incumbents in competitive districts who crossed party lines to provide the final push for the repeal vote – a vote that will be tested as the two parties vie for control of the narrow. State Legislature held by GOP.

The two Phoenix-area lawmakers were chastised by some of their Republican colleagues for siding with Democrats. Gress introduced a motion in the House to initiate repeal of the 1864 law. Bolick, explaining her repeal vote to her Senate colleagues, gave a 20-minute speech describing her three difficult pregnancies.

While Gress was first elected to his seat in 2022, Bolick is facing voters for the first time. She was appointed by the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors to fill a vacant seat in 2023. She did not emphasize her role in the repeal vote during her campaign, instead playing on traditional conservative issues — one of his signs reads “Bolick supports blue”. .”

Another question facing voters is whether to abandon retention elections for Superior Court and state Supreme Court judges, a measure put on the ballot by Republican lawmakers in hopes to protect two judges favorable to the application of the ban dating from the civil war.

Under the current system, voters decide every four to six years whether judges should remain in office. The proposed measure would allow judges and justices to remain in office without a popular vote, unless triggered by felony convictions, crimes involving fraud and dishonesty, personal bankruptcy or mortgage foreclosure.

Shawnna Bolick’s husband, Supreme Court Justice Clint Bolick, is one of two conservative justices vying for a retention vote. Justice Bolick and Justice Kathryn Hackett King, both appointed by former Republican Gov. Doug Ducey, sided with the high court majority in allowing the near-total ban of 1864 to go ahead. abortion rights campaigners campaigned for their ouster, but if the ballot measure passes, they will keep their positions even if they don’t win the retention election.

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