Group Sues Secretary of State for Rejecting Abortion Amendment Petitions

On Tuesday the group backing an abortion amendment sued the Arkansas Secretary of State for rejecting its petitions to place the abortion measure on the ballot.

The amendment by Arkansans for Limited Government would write abortion into the state constitution. The group submitted some 101,525 petition signatures to place the measure on the ballot on July 5. However, the Secretary of State disqualified every petition signature, because Arkansans for Limited Government failed to provide affidavits from the measure’s sponsor as required by state law.

In a lawsuit filed Tuesday, Arkansans for Limited Government argued Secretary of State Thurston unlawfully rejected its petitions, and the group asked the Arkansas Supreme Court to order the Secretary of State to count the petition signatures.

So far Arkansans for Limited Government has spent more than $385,000 on its campaign to pass the Arkansas Abortion Amendment. Reports show $300,000 of that went to Verified Arkansas, a signature collection company in Little Rock.

Arkansans for Limited Government previously submitted documents to the Secretary of State showing it employed 265 paid petition canvassers over the course of its petition drive — including more than 70 paid canvassers hired within 48 hours of the July 5 signature deadline.

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.

The lawsuit over the Secretary of State’s rejection of the abortion amendment petitions is currently before the Arkansas Supreme Court. Family Council will continue to monitor and report on the case.

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