Arkansas election officials reject petitions submitted for an abortion-rights ballot measure

Associated Press

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Arkansas election officials have rejected the petitions submitted for an abortion-rights ballot measure. The secretary of state’s office on Wednesday said organizers behind the measure did not submit paperwork required about paid canvassers it used. The groups submitted more than 101,000 signatures on Friday. The measure would have barred laws banning abortion in the first 20 weeks of gestation and allowed abortion later in pregnancy in cases of rape, incest, threats to the woman’s health or life, or if the fetus would be unlikely to survive birth. Arkansas’ abortion ban took effect when the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade two years ago.