The group Arkansans for Limited Government (AFLG) “is alarmed and outraged” that Arkansas Secretary of State John Thurston rejected the measure, known as the Arkansas Abortion Amendment of 2024. Thurston says the AFLG failed to submit required paperwork about the paid canvassers it used to help gather signatures.
In a public statement posted to social media from AFLG leaders, insist they “worked with the Secretary of State’s office during every step of the process,” even filling out an affidavit provided by the office, “with a list of our paid canvassers and all of the required information associated with their employment.”
The measure would have legalized abortion up to 18 weeks of pregnancy and made exceptions in cases of rape, incest or risk to the life of the mother.
The group is vowing to fight what it calls “this ridiculous disqualification attempt with everything we have. We will not back down.”
The AFLG collected 101,525 signatures supporting the proposed amendment to the Arkansas Constitution, well over the required number of 90,704. But in a letter to Lauren Cowles, a drafter of the initiative, Secretary Thurston stated 14,143 were invalid, leaving them 3,322 signatures short.
In a stinging rebuke of the AFLG claims, Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders posted a statement on social media which said, “Today the far left pro-abortion crowd in Arkansas showed they are both immoral and incompetent.” And in a statement from Attorney General Tim Griffin he declared, “abortion advocates have no one to blame but themselves.”
