‘Have you signed yet?’: Arizona activists battle to overturn near-total abortion ban

As people streamed into the empanada restaurant, Susan Anthony made eye contact, pointing to her sign that asked whether they were pro-choice.

“Have you signed yet?” she asked patrons at the establishment in Mesa, Arizona. She carried a clipboard with petition sheets for a citizen’s initiative, a ballot measure that would put the right to abortion access in the swing state’s constitution.

Since the state supreme court ruled on 9 April that lawmakers in Arizona intended to fully ban abortion, the signatures have come in more quickly, Anthony said.

“No, but I’d like to.”

“I drove here to sign this.”

“I’ve been wanting to.”

“I’ve signed it, probably multiple times.”

“I’m going to tell my friend to come here and sign it.”

Starting the day the ruling came down, the Arizona for Abortion Access measure has seen its volunteers grow from about 3,000 to more than 5,000, spokeswoman Dawn Penich said. More than 5,300 small-dollar donors gave money for the first time since the ruling. The group is not giving out a new total update for the number of signatures, but Penich said that volunteers brought in 2,200 signatures to get notarized in one hour at a Phoenix coffee shop.

A handful of legislative Republicans have been scrambling since the ruling to try to peel back the outright ban, first passed there in 1864, before Arizona was a state, and instead reaffirm the more recent law, a 15-week ban. In the House, Democrats and a couple of Republicans could again try to force the repeal to a vote this Wednesday, the third attempt in recent weeks.

The battle for abortion access in this swing state will ultimately be decided on November’s ballot, where voters will likely face multiple questions. Democrats also hope the issue will turn out enough