Arkansas secretary of state rejects pro-abortion ballot measure

State Senator Ben Gilmore on Wednesday celebrated the decision, sharing a copy of a letter Arkansas Secretary of State John Thurston wrote to supporters of the measure. The pro-abortion group Arkansans for Limited Government did not provide proper information about the identities and training of individuals it paid to solicit signatures, Thurston said. The group proposed putting an amendment before voters in November that would enshrine in the state’s constitution certain legal protections for abortion.

What exactly was in this proposed ballot item? If it were enacted, the discussed amendment would keep the state from protecting unborn babies before 18 weeks of pregnancy. It would also prevent the government from protecting an unborn baby in cases where the abortionist decides the mother’s physical health is at stake. Additionally, the government would not be able to stop abortions in cases of rape, incest, and fetal anomaly, under the proposed amendment.

Earlier this month, the group said it had delivered more than 100,000 signatures supporting the measure to the secretary of state’s office. It needed slightly more than 90,000 signatures to get its proposed amendment on the ballot, according to Thurston’s office. But since the group didn’t provide proper identification and proof of training for its paid canvassers, Thurston said his office could not count roughly 14,000 of those signatures. That meant the group’s total number of valid signatures fell a few thousand short of the required number to get the measure before voters in November.

Arkansans for Limited Government said in a statement Wednesday that it had worked with Thurston’s office every step of the way while gathering signatures. It claimed it had discussed signature requirements with the secretary of state’s team, and that Thurston’s staff had supplied it with the documents it used. It claimed to have tried to supply Thurston’s office with the required documents before he rejected the ballot measure.

Dig deeper: Read Denny Burk’s column in WORLD Opinions about how the GOP abandoned its historically pro-life stance in its 2024 party platform.