More than 500 Arizona doctors, nurses, and medical professionals have signed a letter endorsing a potential ballot measure to expand abortion access in the state.
Arizona currently allows abortions up to 15 weeks of gestation. The proposed Arizona Abortion Access Act would amend the state Constitution to expand abortion access to the point of fetal viability — about 24 weeks. It would also allow exceptions beyond that when health risks are involved.
Opponents of the proposed ballot measure say the amendment would go too far. They argue it would eliminate medical safety standards for abortions and would allow unqualified providers to perform abortions.
But the endorsement of doctors should reassure voters that those claims are not true, said Dr. Candace Lew, an OBGYN and chair of the group backing the measure.
“Physicians and medical professionals, like those of us who signed this letter, always put the safety and wellbeing of our patients first," Lew told reporters Monday. "The Arizona Abortion Access Act puts health care decisions where they belong, with patients, their families, and their health care providers, at the same time it assures that abortion is regulated like any other health care procedure."
The Arizona for Abortion Access group needs to submit 383,923 signatures from registered Arizona voters by July 3 to qualify for the ballot. But organizers say they hope to gather at least twice as many as required to guarantee enough signatures are valid. As of April, the group reported it had collected 500,000 signatures.
