Arkansas Supreme Court blocks abortion measure

Republican officials and anti-abortion activists have spent the last two years trying to stop abortion-rights initiatives from reaching the ballot. On Thursday, they scored their first victory: blocking an Arkansas measure that offered voters the opportunity to significantly loosen the state’s near-total ban on the procedure.

The state Supreme Court ruled 4-3 in favor of Attorney General Tim Griffin, who had accused the abortion-rights initiative’s backers of failing to submit the proper paperwork.

“The petitioners failed to comply with the statutory filing requirements for paid canvassers,” the justices said. “The failure is fatal.”

Justices Karen Baker and Courtney Rae Hudson, in their dissent, accused Arkansas officials of unfairly changing the rules in order to disqualify the abortion-rights petition.

“This requirement was made up out of whole cloth,” they wrote. “Regnat Populus — The People Rule — is the motto of Arkansas. Today’s decision strips every Arkansan of this power.”

The group Arkansans for Limited Government submitted more than 100,000 signatures earlier this month for a ballot measure that would legalize abortion for any reason up to 20 weeks of gestation and allow the procedure later in pregnancy in cases of rape, incest, threats to the woman’s health or life, or severe fetal abnormalities. The vast majority of the signatures were collected by volunteers, but the group also relied on paid canvassers.

State rules require groups collecting signatures for a ballot measure to submit a statement, signed by the sponsor, listing all paid canvassers and testifying that they were properly trained and provided a handbook of state policies. The legal fight involved a clash over who counts as a “sponsor,” among other provisions.

Arkansans for Limited Government disputed state officials’ claims that they did not follow the rules, and argued that even if there were errors, they should be granted a “cure” period to gather more signatures to replace those ruled ineligible.

The leaders of two other ballot measures related to medical marijuana and gambling wrote a brief in support of the abortion-rights group, arguing to the state supreme court that they had similar issues regarding paid canvassers but were ultimately certified. “This inconsistency crystalizes the absurdity of their position,” the groups said of Arkansas’ Republican officials.

Arkansans for Limited Government called the ruling "infuriating," saying it made for "a dark day in Arkansas" and pledged to keep fighting to restore abortion access in the state. The group is now exploring both further legal challenges and, should those fail, the potential of trying again in 2026. Leaders told POLITICO they may also mobilize people to vote this November against two of the state officials who blocked their measure from the ballot: Secretary of State John Thurston, who is running for state treasurer, and Justice Rhonda Wood, who is running for chief justice of the state Supreme Court.

"We can’t — and won’t — rest until Arkansas women have access to safe, standard health care and the autonomy to make decisions about their bodies free from governmental interference," the group said.

Griffin in a statement called the decision “a win for the rule of law in Arkansas and for those who have followed the rules for years to participate in the state’s ballot initiative process.”

Though abortion-rights ballot measures have passed overwhelmingly in red, blue and purple states since the fall of Roe v. Wade — proving one of progressives’ most effective tools for protecting or restoring access to the procedure — Arkansas’ initiative was always a longshot.

Leading national groups that are pouring millions into ballot campaigns in Arizona, Florida, Montana, Nevada and other states — including Planned Parenthood, Reproductive Freedom for All and the ACLU — have declined to support Arkansas’ initiative because it would allow abortion up to only 20 weeks, rather than the 22 to 24 weeks that was the standard under Roe v. Wade . Abortion is banned in Arkansas at any stage of pregnancy, with no exceptions for rape or incest.