Arkansas Supreme Court rejects bid to put abortion on the ballot

A proposed measure that would have allowed Arkansans to vote on expanding abortion rights in the state will not be on the ballot in November, the state Supreme Court said on Thursday.

In a 4-3 ruling, the majority of the Arkansas Supreme Court upheld the secretary of state’s decision to reject the petition for the amendment, saying organizers behind the effort did not correctly submit the required number of signatures.

Arkansas For Limited Government, the group behind the petition, submitted more than 100,000 signatures in support of the amendment – exceeding the 90,704 required to put a constitutional amendment on the ballot.

But the Arkansas Secretary of State denied the petition, saying the group failed to submit sworn statements that confirmed paid canvassers were instructed on how to collect roughly 14,000 of those signatures.

That left the petition at 87,675 – slightly less than the required amount.

“As such, we ordered the Secretary to count the signatures from volunteer canvassers, but we do not order him to count the signatures from paid canvassers. Because the number of the initial count of signatures fails to meet the facial validity threshold required by law, we deny further relief,” Justice Rhonda Wood wrote in the majority opinion.

The proposed amendment would have prevented the states from restricting access to abortion up to 18 weeks or in cases of rape, incest, fatal fetal anomalies or to protect the life or health of the pregnant person.

Nearly all forms of abortion are outlawed in Arkansas except in cases where the pregnant person’s life is at risk.

The state does not provide exceptions in cases of rape or incest.

Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders praised the state Supreme Court’s decision and