Abortion Amendment Group Hired 265 Canvassers to Collect Signatures

Public documents obtained from the Secretary of State’s office show the group backing the Arkansas Abortion Amendment paid 265 canvassers to collect signatures in support of the measure.

The amendment by Arkansans for Limited Government would write abortion into the state constitution. The group submitted some 101,525 signatures to place the measure on the ballot on Friday. The Secretary of State is currently reviewing and counting the signatures to determine if they are valid.

Arkansans for Limited Government submitted documents to the Secretary of State showing the group employed 265 paid petition canvassers over the course of the signature campaign — including more than 70 paid canvassers hired within 48 hours of the July 5 deadline to submit petitions for the abortion measure.

Under Arkansas law, paid petition canvassers must be residents of Arkansas. They must pass a criminal background check, and their information must be properly recorded with the Secretary of State’s office.

Legal experts have pointed out the abortion amendment would prevent the State of Arkansas from restricting abortion during the first five months of pregnancy — which is more extreme than Roe v. Wade — and would allow thousands of elective abortions on healthy women and unborn children every year.

The amendment does not contain any medical licensing or health and safety standards for abortion, and it does not require abortions to be performed by a physician or in a licensed medical facility.

It automatically nullifies all state laws that conflict with the amendment, jeopardizing basic abortion regulations — like parental-consent and informed-consent requirements that both sides of the aisle have supported in the past.

The measure also contains various exceptions that would permit abortion on demand through all nine months of pregnancy in many cases.

Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.