MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
To Arizona now, where, this fall, voters will get to decide whether to add the right to an abortion to the state constitution. Arizona's Secretary of State announced on Monday his office has certified more than enough signatures to put access to abortion on the November ballot. Let's go to NPR's Ben Giles in Phoenix. Hey there, Ben.
BEN GILES, BYLINE: Hello.
KELLY: Hi. So I know the current law of the land is that Arizona bans abortions after 15 weeks. If this amendment to the state constitution were to pass, that would change.
GILES: Yes. The amendment would allow abortions until fetal viability. That's considered to be about the 24th week of pregnancy. There'd be exceptions after 24 weeks to protect the life of a mother or to protect a mother's physical or mental health. Crucially, the amendment also bars the state legislature from passing laws to prohibit access to abortion. That's something Republican lawmakers here have tried to do repeatedly for years. There were more than 800,000 signatures gathered to put this constitutional amendment on the ballot.
And the hope for Democratic candidates is that enthusiasm will carry over not just for the initiative but also for backers of it to vote for candidates who support abortion rights. I should note, there is one lawsuit seeking to block the measure from appearing on the ballot, but so far, their arguments have been rejected by trial courts in Arizona.
KELLY: Rejected by trial courts - OK. I'm thinking, Ben, about how this might fit in with moves by Democrats all over the country since Roe v. Wade was overturned - moves to try to put abortion rights at the center of political campaigns. You have tracked a bunch of campaigns in Arizona. How has it played out there?
GILES: So let's start at the top of the ticket. Vice President Harris - she's visited Arizona four times this year, and three of those visits came before she was the Democratic presidential nominee. On each of those trips, her focus was on reproductive rights, and that's a message that carried over to her rally as the nominee with Governor Tim Walz last week. It's music to the ears of supporters like Sandy Lavender, who I caught up with while she was walking into the arena.
SANDY LAVENDER: I want to Roe, Roe, Roe my vote. I want to make sure that I hear from President Harris, hopefully, that she will get everything back on track for women in this country. We deserve to have a choice with our bodies.
GILES: There was plenty of that enthusiasm to go around at the rally, both for Harris and for abortion rights.
KELLY: Yeah. Does that enthusiasm extend beyond Harris? Is there any evidence that it'll matter farther down the ballot?
GILES: There's at least evidence that Democratic candidates for all sorts of elected office think it will. U.S. Democratic Senate hopeful Ruben Gallego is a prime example. Abortion rights has been one of his main lines of attack against the GOP Senate nominee Kari Lake. Gallego has highlighted her past statements in support of a near-total abortion ban on the books in Arizona. Lake later said, after a ruling to uphold that ban in April, that it was out of line with the people of the state.
KELLY: And then what about for state office? I know that the state legislature, for example - Republicans hold the majority in both chambers in Arizona. Thin majority, but still - are Democrats hoping this issue, abortion, could help them flip control of either chamber?
GILES: As for flipping the legislature, I'll believe it when I see it. I've been in Arizona for over a decade, and it seems like every two years, Democrats say, this is the year it'll happen. But one thing Democrats have to their advantage this year in legislative races is the record on a vote to repeal that near-total abortion ban I just mentioned, a Civil War-era abortion ban. That vote took place back in May. All but a small handful of legislative Republicans voted against repealing it, and that's a vote Democrats will try using against them in November.
Opponents are trying to counter enthusiasm for the abortion measure with their own question on the ballot to drive out the vote for Republicans. That measure would give state and local law enforcement authority to arrest immigrants who cross the Southern border illegally.
KELLY: Plenty to keep you busy there in Arizona - NPR's Ben Giles in Phoenix. Thank you, Ben.
GILES: Thank you.
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