Members of Arizona for Abortion Access hold signs during an April press conference. Photo: Rebecca Noble/Getty Images
The informational pamphlet that will be sent to Arizona voters this fall will call fetuses "unborn human beings" in the description of a citizen initiative that would restore Roe-era abortion protections.
Why it matters: Abortion rights advocates say the language is biased and meant to confuse and scare voters.
State of play: The GOP-controlled legislative council wrote the description, which uses the term "unborn human being" in the first sentence.
Arizona for Abortion Access, the campaign backing the initiative, sued to change the language to "fetus," arguing it was a more impartial term.
The Maricopa County Superior Court sided with the campaign, but the state Supreme Court — the same court that allowed Arizona's 1864 near-total abortion ban to take effect earlier this year — said the language met impartiality standards and reversed the lower court's ruling yesterday.
Context: The Arizona Abortion Access Act would allow abortion access up to fetal viability, about 24 weeks of pregnancy.
An abortion would be permitted after that only if "in the good faith judgment of a treating health care professional, it is necessary to protect the life or physical or mental health of the pregnant individual."
