‘Every pregnancy is different,’ says abortion rights advocate against setting timeline for fetal viability
PHOENIX (3TV/CBS 5) — A group leader trying to expand abortion access through the ballot box said Friday that fetal viability, generally considered about 24 weeks into a pregnancy, shouldn’t be defined by those timelines. “We know that every pregnancy is different, so viability is kind of a moving target,” said Chris Love, senior adviser for Planned Parenthood Advocates of Arizona.
Love is part of a coalition that filed a ballot measure last week to enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution. The proposed Arizona Abortion Access Act would permit abortions up to fetal viability and beyond if the physical and mental health of the mother is at risk. “We drafted the language for the constitutional amendment that allows for a medical provider and a patient to make those decisions and takes politicians out of it and takes arbitrary lines of ‘weeks’ out of the calculus,” Love said.
Opponents claim the initiative is a “radical ballot measure” that is so vague that it would allow for late-term abortions. The ballot language is under legal review, which should be completed next month when supporters will start collecting the nearly 400,000 signatures needed to qualify for the 2024 ballot.
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