SB 1164 Coalition Press Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 24th, 2022
Arizona’s Reproductive Health, Freedom, Rights, and Justice Coalition Statement on SB1164, A 15-Week Abortion Ban
Phoenix, Arizona: Today, Arizona’s reproductive health, freedom, rights, and justice coalition condemns the passage of SB 1164 in the Arizona legislature, an extreme law that bans abortion care after 15 weeks of pregnancy. The coalition calls on Governor Doug Ducey to veto the bill and to stand with the 90 percent of Arizona voters who believe we all should have the freedom to decide how and when we start or grow a family, free from political interference.
The bill advances as the U.S. Supreme Court decides whether to uphold a nearly identical ban in Mississippi in the case Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization—a direct challenge to Roe v. Wade. Anti-abortion lawmakers are hoping copycat bans like SB 1164 will take effect and be allowed to stand if the Supreme Court overturns Roe later this year.
“Everyone in Arizona, no matter their race, income, or background should be able to decide if, when, and how to grow their families,” said Michelle I. Ponce, Co-Director of Arizona Birthworkers of Color. “Certain politicians in the Arizona State Legislature are stoking fear and division to hold onto power. These same lawmakers who are attacking abortion access are also trying to ban books and disenfranchise voters. They want us to judge each other instead of demanding what our families need. We need to come together, no matter our beliefs or where we come from, to ensure we get to make our own futures.”
“A vote in favor of passing a 15-week abortion ban in Arizona is a vote that supports harming pregnant people and our communities” said Eloisa Lopez, Executive Director of the Abortion Fund of Arizona. “At our Abortion Fund, over 67% of our callers are seeking abortion care after 15 weeks. This new ban will have devastating impacts on abortion care accessibility, especially for those living in rural communities. One of the main reasons people need an abortion after 15 weeks is because they could not afford abortion care at an earlier gestational stage. The economic burden our government has created to prohibit insurance and state Medicaid support of abortion care puts services so far out of reach for people. This ban will not stop us from continuing our abortion access work and we are ready to shift our resources to meet the needs of pregnant people to ensure they can get the care that they deserve.”
“There is NO reasonable abortion ban. While politicians serve as conduits for the advancement of extreme anti-abortion ideology and political gain, pregnant people's lives hang in the balance,” said Dr. DeShawn Taylor, owner of Desert Star Family Planning in Phoenix, Arizona. “If anti-abortion elected representatives really want to support families – as they claim to – they would not be working to eliminate access to abortion care or push harmful narratives about abortion. Banning abortion has never and will never remove the need for abortion care.”
“If Governor Ducey signs this bill and it is allowed to go into effect, people like me will need to travel out of state to get an abortion,” said abortion patient Kristin Williams of Phoenix. “I was well into my pregnancy when we learned of a serious issue my doctors couldn’t have seen any sooner. We were worried about my health, and my children needed a healthy mom. The existing abortion laws in Arizona took our devastating experience and made it much worse. I was lucky I was able to get care, and I know that further criminalizing the doctor patient relationship won’t help people.”
“This ban will be detrimental for the health of pregnant people in Arizona, and will exacerbate existing health disparities,” said Dr. Atsuko Koyama, a Fellow at Physicians for Reproductive Health. “As a doctor, I can tell you firsthand that abortion is safe and essential. My patients’ health and well-being should guide important medical decisions, not politics. Every major medical association objects to abortion bans because they lead to measurable harm and do nothing to address unplanned pregnancies or underlying health disparities. Criminalizing critical healthcare and denying people abortions leads to poor outcomes for my patients, their families, and our communities.”
“Those without the means to leave Arizona to reach care will be forced to continue a state-mandated pregnancy against their will,” said Parris Wallace, Co director Black Political Cultivation AZ. “Abortion bans have an outsized impact on poor people, disabled people, young people, Black, Indigenous and Latinx people, rural and immigrant communities. These groups, who are already disadvantaged by systems built to fail them, are then targeted by surveillance, criminalization, and punishment. We make our own futures, and we must come together, across different communities, beliefs, and backgrounds, to reject these efforts to divide and control us.”
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The Arizona Reproductive Health, Rights, and Justice Coalition includes the following organizations:
Abortion Fund of Arizona
American Association of University Women Arizona
American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Arizona
Arizona Birthworkers of Color
Arizona Center for Women’s Advancement
Arizona Family Health Partnership
Black Political Cultivation AZ
Black Phoenix Organizing Collective
Desert Star Family Planning
NARAL America - Arizona
National Council of Jewish Women Arizona
Protecting Arizona’s Families Coalition
Pro-Choice Arizona
Planned Parenthood Arizona
Progress Arizona
Secular AZ
YWCA Metropolitan Phoenix
Tucson Abortion Support Collective