Arkansas Supreme Court Issues Briefing Schedule in Abortion Amendment Lawsuit

On Friday afternoon the Arkansas Supreme Court issued an order setting deadlines for briefings in the lawsuit over a proposed abortion amendment.

The order directs the Secretary of State’s office to respond to the original lawsuit by 9:00 AM today, and it sets additional briefing deadlines for this Friday and the next.

Earlier this month Arkansans for Limited Government submitted petition signatures to place the Arkansas Abortion Amendment on the ballot. Bringing the amendment up for a vote would require at least 90,704 valid signatures from registered voters.

However, Secretary of State John Thurston disqualified every petition signature, because the sponsors failed to provide affidavits that state law requires concerning paid petition canvassers.

By law, ballot initiative sponsors must file a statement confirming that each paid canvassers was given a copy of the state’s initiative and referenda handbook as well as an explanation of relevant state laws before he or she solicited petition signatures. The sponsors backing the abortion measure failed to file this specific documentation when they submitted the petitions for the abortion amendment. That prompted the Secretary of State to reject all of the petitions.

Arkansans for Limited Government filed a lawsuit, claiming Secretary of State Thurston unlawfully rejected its petitions.

The Arkansas Supreme Court subsequently ordered the Secretary of State to count the Arkansas Abortion Amendment petition signatures collected by volunteers.

On Thursday the Secretary of State informed the Arkansas Supreme Court that its office counted 87,675 abortion amendment signatures collected by volunteers — 3,029 fewer signatures than state law requires for a measure to qualify for the ballot.

That — coupled with the Secretary of State’s determination that Arkansans for Limited Government failed to comply with state law in filing its paid canvasser affidavits — should mean the abortion measure will not appear on the ballot this November.

However, the Arkansas Supreme Court has asked for both the Secretary of State and Arkansans for Limited Government to file additional briefs with the court this week and next week — meaning this case is likely to continue until at least mid-August.

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.

Family Council will continue to monitor and report on the lawsuit over the Arkansas Abortion Amendment of 2024.

You can download a copy of the Arkansas Abortion Amendment here.

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