The Quickie: "I Can't Understand Why We Would Go Backward in Time": Arizona Court Considers Pre-Roe Abortion Ban
For Immediate Release: Aug. 22, 2022
Welcome to “The Quickie” — Planned Parenthood Action Fund’s daily tipsheet on the top health care & reproductive rights stories of the day.
“I CAN’T UNDERSTAND WHY WE WOULD GO BACKWARD IN TIME”: ARIZONA COURT CONSIDERS PRE-ROE ABORTION BAN: On Friday, the Arizona Superior Court heard oral arguments on Attorney General Mark Brnovich’s bid to reinstate an archaic and harmful 100+ year-old abortion ban. The pre-Roe law would eliminate nearly all abortion access in Arizona, and is deeply unpopular among residents and health care professionals in the state — sentiments clear at the rally organized by Planned Parenthood Arizona ahead of the hearing. “I can’t understand why we would go backward in time and not allow people to have authority over their own bodies,” said one Tucson resident at the rally, reported KGUN 9.
Planned Parenthood attorney Sarah Mac Dougall argued in the hearing that according to state law, the court has a duty to “harmonize” the statutes that have been passed on the same subject, but instead, “the AG wants [the] court to turn every principle of statutory interpretation on its head and grant him an undemocratic windfall.” After the hearing, Planned Parenthood Arizona Medical Director Dr. Jill Gibson spoke to press, and highlighted how much of an impact patients are already seeing in the state, per AZ Central:
"There was immense confusion because our elected politicians in our state did not give us any clarity. In fact, they sort of sowed discord and didn't really give us any sense as to what would be legal. That really resulted in patients not having any understanding of what would be permissible in the state. So, we did see that patients really had to travel out of state in order to access care.”
To discuss this patient impact further, U.S. Health and Human Services Director Xavier Becerra visited Planned Parenthood Arizona Thursday ahead of the hearing and met with abortion providers for a roundtable discussion onaccess in the state and how patients have been impacted since Roe was overturned nearly two months ago.
Read more: AP, 12 News, Arizona Public Media, and Arizona Daily Star.
“THIS IS NOT ABOUT PEOPLE. THIS IS ABOUT POWER.”: On Friday night, Planned Parenthood Action Fund Executive Director Kelley Robinson joined MSNBC’s The ReidOut, guest hosted by Tiffany Cross and spoke about the increasing number of state abortion bans, the horrific outcomes they were designed to inflict, and what people can do to fight back. Kelley noted:
“The opposition is clear. This is not about people, this is about power. There are 16 states that have already banned abortion access and I have to say, those states are at the bottom of list when it comes to supporting mothers, families, and birthing people. They are at the bottom of the list when it comes to maternal health care, when it comes to infant mortality, child poverty. Its clearly not about people.
“So the things that we can do is get all the information we can to make sure that folks in our communities know how to access care. You can go visit websites like abortionfinder.org to get the health care that you need and find out how to get access. I am also encouraging folks if you’re listing now to think about giving to abortion funds. There’s so much that we can do to make sure people get access to care and we also get care to people.”
Watch the segment here.
ALBUQUERQUE MAINTAINS PLANNED PARENTHOOD FUNDING: Last week, Albuquerque’s city council voted to keep funding for Planned Parenthood in its budget. The council was considering reallocating funding for the organization to the Barrett House Shelter, which aids women and children who are experiencing homelessness. Instead, the council voted against zero-sum funding for the organizations, opting to maintain Planned Parenthood’s funding while increasing funding by $100,000 to both the Barrett House Shelter and the Community Energy Efficiency project. While the city’s contract does not include funding for abortion, it does help fund other critical health care servics for New Mexicans like cancer screenings, birth control, STD testing, and more.
Read more at KUNM.