NASHVILLE (BP) — Arizona and Missouri are the latest states to add measures to the November ballot allowing voters to enshrine abortion rights in their respective state constitutions, joining at least six other states with similar measures.
In at least two states, Nebraska and Pennsylvania, ballot initiatives to protect life are pending.
The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC) is working with Southern Baptists in each state as the ballot landscape takes shape.
“As we look ahead to the November election, we recognize there are numerous abortion state ballot initiatives being decided by voters. Thankfully, some of these seek to solidify protections for preborn children,” said Miles Mullin, ERLC executive vice president and chief of staff. “Tragically, many others seek to expand abortion, leading to more lives lost.
“We know that many of our state conventions are already engaged in doing good work on the front lines in order to advance pro-life policies. The ERLC stands ready to support our Southern Baptist churches by working alongside our Baptist state convention partners where initiatives are up for a vote,” Mullin said, “by providing resources that help educate and equip Baptists and others in the critical effort to protect life.”
In Missouri, Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft approved Aug. 12 the ballot addition of Amendment 3, which would “establish a right to make decisions about reproductive health care, including abortion and contraceptives, with any governmental interference of that right presumed invalid,” according to the initiative posted on Ashcroft’s official website.
Still, the Missouri ballot measure would “allow abortion to be restricted or banned after fetal viability, except to protect the life or health of the woman,” the measure reads, while removing the state’s current abortion ban, and protects from government discrimination recipients and providers of “reproductive health care.”
The Arizona initiative, Proposition 139, would enshrine a constitutional right to abortion up until fetal viability, with exceptions after that point to save the life and physical and mental health of the mother, according to the initiative posted on Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes’ website.
The initiative would also protect from prosecution providers of abortion.
Both states define fetal viability as the point when a health professional determines the child can survive outside the womb without extraordinary medical measures.
Arizona, Missouri, Florida, Colorado, South Dakota, New York, Maryland and Nevada all have ballot measures to allow voters to expand or establish abortion rights.
ERLC tracks the national right-to-life ballot landscape, with the latest updates appearing each Friday.
ERLC’s tracker, available here, includes details of ballot initiatives and those pending.
(EDITOR’S NOTE — Diana Chandler is Baptist Press’ senior writer.)
