Arizona Passes Abortion Amendment to End 15-Week Ban

Arizona voters passed an abortion rights amendment, effectively repealing the state's 15-week ban. The tally was 63% yes to about 38% no, with about 60% of the votes in according to NBC News. It's one of 10 states with abortion amendments on the ballot today.

Proposition 139 codifies in the state constitution the right to abortion up to fetal viability, or when necessary to protect the patient’s health. Viability, or when the fetus can survive outside the uterus, is thought to be at about 24 weeks of pregnancy. Abortion is currently banned after 15 weeks of pregnancy.

In April, the state Supreme Court ruled to uphold an abortion ban from 1864, enacted before Arizona was a state. The Civil War-era ban subjected doctors to prosecution and sentences of two to five years in prison. The Arizona legislature voted to repeal it in June after two unsuccessful attempts.

During the signature-gathering phase of getting the amendment on the ballot, opponents of Proposition 139 tried to physically prevent people from signing petitions, but organizers still collected more than 820,000 signatures when only 384,000 were needed and the state approved it to be on the ballot in August.

While former president Donald Trump secured enough Electoral College votes to win the White House, it's not yet clear which candidate won Arizona, though Trump is currently leading. That would mean that voters said they support abortion rights at the same time that they chose the candidate who could enact federal restrictions that override the ballot measure.