Arizona Abortion Amendment’s Shockingly Broad Mental-Health Loophole

Arizona law currently allows abortion during the first 15 weeks of pregnancy for any reason, with an exception beyond that gestational limit to protect the life or physical health of the mother. But last week, a new political action committee called Arizona for Abortion Access filed a proposed amendment to the state constitution that would replace the current law with a fundamental right to kill babies capable of surviving outside the mother’s womb — all the way through the ninth month of pregnancy — under a broad mental-health exception.

The text of the proposed Arizona amendment, which will likely be on the ballot in 2024, explicitly forbids any law from protecting the life of a baby who could survive outside the womb whenever a lone “health-care professional” — an undefined term not limited to doctors — deems aborting the viable child necessary to protect a pregnant woman’s “mental health.” There is no requirement that the threat to mental health be severe, and the findings section of the amendment states that the provisions of the amendment should be “liberally” interpreted: “This act should be liberally construed in furtherance of the fundamental right it establishes.”

About the Author

John McCormack

John McCormack is a former Washington correspondent for National Review and was a fellow at the National Review Institute.

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Arizona law currently allows abortion during the first 15 weeks of pregnancy for any reason, with an exception beyond that gestational limit to protect the life or physical health of the mother. But last week, a new political action committee called Arizona for Abortion Access filed a proposed amendment to the state constitution that would replace the current law with a fundamental right to kill babies capable of surviving outside the mother’s womb — all the way through the ninth month of pregnancy — under a broad mental-health exception.

The text of the proposed Arizona amendment, which will likely be on the ballot in 2024, explicitly forbids any law from protecting the life of a baby who could survive outside the womb whenever a lone “health-care professional” — an undefined term not limited to doctors — deems aborting the viable child necessary to protect a pregnant woman’s “mental health.” There is no requirement that the threat to mental health be severe, and the findings section of the amendment states that the provisions of the amendment should be “liberally” interpreted: “This act should be liberally construed in furtherance of the fundamental right it establishes.”