Abortion activists in Arkansas were dealt a blow yesterday with the release of an analysis from Attorney General Tim Griffin that will require them to go back to the drawing board. Arkansas’ abortion ballot measure, according to AG Griffin, has a deceptive title and is riddled with misleading text. An unclear health exception, using the term “reproductive health care” instead of “abortion,” and misleading voters on the gestational age of babies who can be aborted under the constitutional amendment are among the problems cited by the attorney general in his letter.
Attorney General Griffin says in the letter:
“Having reviewed the text of your proposed constitutional amendment, as well as your proposed popular name and ballot title, I must reject your popular name and ballot title due to ambiguities in the text of your proposed measure that prevent me from ensuring that the ballot title you have submitted, or any ballot title I would substitute, is not misleading.”
Similar to Arkansas, attorneys general in Florida and South Dakota have issued warnings to groups pushing abortion ballot measures. In Florida, Attorney General Ashley Moody called out the proposed abortion amendment as “one of the worst” she has seen in terms of language that misleads voters and questions why the sponsor has not provided any clarity on when the right to abortion ends. Earlier this month, South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley admonished abortion activists for unlawful misconduct in deceiving voters to sign petitions. “Any suggestion that your proposed abortion amendment makes abortion legal only for the first trimester is contrary to the language of the proposed amendment,” said Jackley in a letter to Dakotans for Health.
SBA Pro-Life America’s State Public Affairs Director Kelsey Pritchard shared her reaction:
“Deception is the common theme in every abortion ballot measure. Abortion activists have repeatedly used unclear language to mislead voters into embedding unlimited abortion in their state constitutions. Because Americans do not support second- and third-trimester abortions, Big Abortion must funnel millions into ads that lie about what these amendments actually do in order to be successful.
“We thank Tim Griffin, Ashley Moody and Marty Jackley for exposing abortion activists’ deceptive tactics. These attorneys general are faithfully carrying out their duties as they push for clarity so that voters are aware they are voting on establishing a right to late-term abortion.”
