Over 550 medical professionals in Arizona have signed a letter endorsing the Arizona Abortion Access Act, a proposed constitutional amendment that would put personal medical decisions back in the hands of patients and health care providers, rather than politicians.
Ahead of the deadline to turn in signatures to get the amendment on the ballot, two of the endorsing physicians, along with an Arizona patient and volunteer signature collector, shared this week why it’s so critical to pass the amendment in November, particularly as we await decisions from the U.S. Supreme Court this month that could impede abortion access.
“From Tucson to Bullhead City, and from Yuma to Flagstaff, Arizona medical professionals overwhelmingly support putting personal medical decisions back in the hands of patients, their health care providers and their families — not politicians,” said Dr. Candace Lew, an OB/GYN in Tempe. “Physicians and medical providers aren’t alone. Since last September, more than 7,000 volunteers in every corner of the state have been collecting voter signatures to amend the Arizona Constitution restoring and protecting bodily autonomy and every Arizonan’s right to make our own health care decisions, including the private and personal decision to access abortion care. Arizonans want the freedom to make their own health care decisions again. Arizonans deserve the freedom to make their own health care decisions again.”
“Here in Arizona, politicians have been playing games with reproductive health care, enacting the ban on abortion after 15 weeks and supporting the 1864 territorial abortion ban,” said Dr. Andrew Carroll, a family physician in Chandler. “Unfortunately, emergency abortion care access could be further eroded later this month. We’re awaiting a United States Supreme Court decision on whether the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act, or EMTALA, conflicts with Idaho’s abortion ban. The Supreme Court could take away the decades long precedent of EMTALA protections for emergency abortion care. With Supreme Court case after Supreme Court case, and with abortion ban after abortion ban in states around the country, it’s abundantly clear that attacks on abortion access and reproductive freedom won’t stop. So it’s on us to stop this dangerous interference.”
Robin Williams, a patient, mother and volunteer signature collector in East Valley, shared her abortion story and experience collecting signatures in the state: “I, like so many others, have my own abortion story. I became pregnant when I was in high school. I was definitely not able to take care of myself let alone a baby at that age. Fortunately, I was able to get to New York to have a safe and legal abortion. I’m so grateful for the opportunities I’ve had and the two sets of twins I was able to raise when I was ready — when it was safe and suitable for me to do so…Every single time that I have been out collecting signatures, voters thank me and tell me they think it’s ridiculous Arizonans have lost this basic right to make our own medical decisions. For my own kids, grandkids and every Arizona patient who, like I once did, deserves to access safe health care, I am so grateful for these doctors and for the opportunity to right this wrong by supporting the Arizona Abortion Access Act.”
For more information on Arizona Abortion Access Act, visit ArizonaforAbortionAccess.org.
