Voter’s guide language for Arizona Abortion Access Act lands in court

TUCSON, Ariz. (13 News) – The first hearing for what could be many court challenges to Arizona’s abortion initiative was held in Phoenix this afternoon.

The hearing concerns language which will appear in the Arizona Voter’s Guide. It will be sent to all voters in the state explaining all the initiatives, referendums, and candidates.

At a meeting of the Arizona Legislative Council, the language for the Arizona Abortion Access Act, seemed the most contentious.

“I propose that we, on page one line two, strike unborn human being and insert the word fetus,” said Stephanie Stahl Hamilton, a Democrat from Tucson’s District 21.

That proposal that was voted down by the Republican majority legislative committee by a voice vote.

In this case the Republicans want to use the language “unborn human being” in the voter’s guide, but the Democrats want to strike “unborn human being” and replace it with the word “fetus”.

Stahl Hamilton pressed Speaker Ben Toma, a Republican and chair of the committee, on why not use fetus which is the medical term.

“Mister Speaker you can support the medically accurate term, yes?” she asked.

“I’m not a doctor Representative Stahl Hamilton, I don’t care what the medically accurate term is,” he said.

It’s an example of how heated the debate has become over the use of words to affect voter’s opinions.

Which language will appear on the guide will now, apparently, work its way through the courts.

“The law requires that the description be as neutral as possible,” said Chris Love, a spokesperson for the Arizona for Abortion Access organization which gathered the petition signatures. “Using the term unborn human being or any form of that is actually quite politically tinged.”

But on the other hand, one Republican lawmaker who opposes the initiative said the word fetus is more politically biased.

“My opinion is that it’s an unborn baby, it’s an unborn child and not a fetus,” said Teresa Martinez, a Republican from District 16.

Still, the Republicans argued it will use both terms in the voter guide so that makes if fair. It will use unborn human being early in the explanation and fetus later.

But it’s an argument the Democrats said fails because only one term is legally and medically sound, and that’s fetus.

“The way I interpret that, would be to use the medically accurate language,” Stahl Hamilton said. “That has nothing to do with politics, has absolutely nothing to do with bias. They are the clinical terms.”

The abortion initiative was able to gather more than 830,000 signatures, a record number. That should be more than enough to get the 383,000 valid signatures needed to get it on the ballot.

Even if the language issue is settled quickly, there are more legal battles looming.

“Our initiative process is rife with challenges, legal challenges especially to language or signatures,” Love said. “But this is the first thing that’s happening in a series of things that may happen over the summer.”

And with such a contentious issue, it promises to be a long hot summer.

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