Arizona, Missouri Join 6 Other States With Abortion Measures On This Year's Ballot

With less than three months until the 2024 election, two more states have added abortion measures to their ballots as Democrats aim to leverage the issue to boost voter turnout among their supporters.

Arizona and Missouri have now secured enough petition signatures to propose amendments that would enshrine abortion rights in their state constitutions.

These states will join the following six others with similar ballot measures in this year’s election: Colorado, Florida, Maryland, Nevada, New York, and South Dakota.

Two additional states, Montana and Nebraska, have abortion-related ballot petitions pending.

In Arizona, more than 7,000 volunteers worked tirelessly to collect signatures from voters across all 15 counties in support of the Arizona Abortion Access Act.

“Today, we got word that Arizona’s 15 counties finished their review of a random sample of our signatures and the Secretary of State confirmed that we gathered far more than enough valid signatures, 50 percent above the required minimum. It is the most signatures ever validated by a citizen’s initiative in state history,” Arizona for Abortion Access, the group behind the measure, said in a statement.

“This is a huge win for Arizona voters who will now get to vote YES on restoring and protecting the right to access abortion care, free from political interference, once and for all,” said campaign manager Cheryl Bruce.

The advocacy group Missourians for Constitutional Freedom hailed the addition of the abortion proposal to this year’s ballot as a win.

“This is a major step forward for our campaign and for Missourians who want to end our state’s cruel abortion ban,” Rachel Sweet, Campaign Manager for Missourians for Constitutional Freedom, said in a statement. “The successful submission of more than 380,000 signatures, collected from all 114 counties in Missouri, is a testament to the hard work and dedication of thousands of volunteers and supporters who believe we must end Missouri’s total abortion ban.”

She added, “As we turn our attention to the November ballot, it’s clear Missourians overwhelmingly support reproductive freedom and will have the chance to make their voices heard at the ballot box.”