Let voters decide reproductive rights in AZ

It’s a question too big to be answered by a handful of U.S. Supreme Court justices.

It’s a question too big to be decided by a slim Republican majority in the Arizona Legislature.

It’s a question that should be decided by ... us.

All of us.

Regular citizens.

Republicans. Democrats. Independents. And all the rest of us.

And, hopefully, we’ll get that chance.

A group calling itself Arizonans for Reproductive Freedom submitted an application at the Secretary of State’s Office that would give women in Arizona autonomy over their own bodies.

The simple, easy-to-understand initiative proposal reads in part, “Neither the state nor any political subdivision shall restrict, penalize, frustrate or otherwise interfere with the exercise of the right to reproductive freedom, including: any individual’s access to contraception: pre-viability medical and surgical termination or pregnancy; or medical and surgical termination of pregnancy when necessary to preserve the individual’s health or life.”

It doesn’t mean that all abortion restrictions would go away.

The proposal is tied to viability and is meant, more than anything, to keep the most radical elements of the antiabortion movement from banning abortion completely and forcing even the victims of rape or incest to carry the pregnancy to term.

In order to get the proposal on the ballot the group will need to submit 356,467 valid voter signatures by July 7.

That is the first immense hurdle. Should the initiative’s supporters succeed, the next great obstacle will be dealing with a hugely well-funded disinformation campaign that is guaranteed to follow.

Keeping the language of the initiative to only four paragraphs will help with that. But it won’t stop opponents from trying to muddy the waters, frighten people and put forth who knows what kind of bizarre conspiracy theories.

And, of course, we can expect legal challenges to be filed.

Too many important decisions are left to a handful of members of the judiciary or to the whims of politicians who all to often are answering to the demands of campaign donors or influencial lobbying organizations rather than their constituents. That shouldn’t happen with an issue as important as this. And it should be determined in a straightforward, no-nonsense way. That’s how the initiative approaches it.

In the end, the question being put before voters is a simple one:

Should women control their bodies or should the state?

That’s it. That’s all there is to it. And who is better to answer that? A handful of judges?

A small gaggle of lawmakers?

Or ... us?