| Arizonans voted to amend the state constitution to include protections for the procedure. The battleground state is the latest of many to restore or expand abortion access since the fall of Roe v. Wade, but it's the first to override a 15-week ban, the policy conservatives have long argued is a "compromise" embraced by a majority of the public. The initiative legalizes abortion access through fetal viability — about 22 to 24 weeks — and allows for termination in the final months of pregnancy if there's a threat to the health or life of the mother. The initiative won with the backing of voters across the political spectrum, including conservatives who oppose government intervention in personal health decisions and liberals moved by the stories of women in Arizona and around the country denied care during obstetric emergencies. Many said they were motivated to vote yes by the state Supreme Court's conservative majority voting earlier this year to uphold an 1864 near-total abortion ban, which the Legislature narrowly repealed even as most GOP lawmakers voted to keep it in place. Yet the fate of reproductive rights in the Sun Belt is far from sealed. Abortion opponents have vowed to challenge the initiative in state court, and if they aren't successful there in striking it down, push for another ballot measure next cycle to overturn it. Read the latest
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