Abortion rights ballot measures pass in 7 states, fail in 3 others

Defeats in Florida, Nebraska and South Dakota ended an unbroken post-Roe ballot measure winning streak for reproductive rights advocates.

Nov. 6, 2024
By Adam Edelman

Constitutional amendments to protect or expand abortion rights passed in seven of the 10 states where they appeared on the ballot Tuesday, NBC News projects.

Voters in Arizona and Missouri approved ballot initiatives that will effectively protect abortion rights until fetal viability and undo existing abortion laws on the books. But voters in Florida, Nebraska and South Dakota rejected proposed amendments that would have done the same — becoming the first pro-abortion-rights ballot measures to fail since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June 2022.

Continued: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/abortion-rights-ballot-measures-pass-7-states-fail-3-others-rcna178718

USA – Inside the abortion clinic where women fear Donald Trump’s return to the presidency

Four Corners / By Mark Willacy and Amy Donaldson
July 20, 2024

Cindy Hans pops up her rainbow umbrella and shields a young woman's face as she steps out of her car.

"Morning. We're here to walk you in," Cindy tells her. "I like your shirt; very nice."

Cindy is part of a team of volunteers — or what's called an "escort" — at the Camelback abortion clinic in suburban Phoenix, Arizona.

Continued: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-07-21/abortion-clinic-arizona-fear-trump-us-election/104117622

Arizona’s now-repealed abortion ban serves as a cautionary tale for reproductive health care across the US

May 8, 2024
Swapna Reddy and Mary Saxon

When the Arizona Supreme Court ruled on April 9, 2024, that the state’s Civil War-era law banning nearly all abortions was enforceable, it brought into stark reality the potential impacts of leaving reproductive rights up to the states to regulate, and the related consequences for women’s health.

The ruling, set to go into effect in late June 2024, will only remain active for a few months because Arizona lawmakers repealed the law on April 30. Starting in the fall, a previous state law banning abortion after 15 weeks will be reinstated.

Continued: https://theconversation.com/arizonas-now-repealed-abortion-ban-serves-as-a-cautionary-tale-for-reproductive-health-care-across-the-us-228077

The Mexican state closest to Arizona bans most abortions, setting up a regional void

Arizona’s Supreme Court ruled last week that an 1864 law banning most abortions from the moment of conception could be enforced, sending the state into chaos.

April 16, 2024
By Isabela Espadas Barros Leal and Albinson Linares

Though American and Mexican women have long relied on one another for abortion care, the impending restrictions in Arizona are set to create a regional lack of access that spans into the neighboring Mexican state of Sonora — where abortion is also banned with minimal exceptions.

Such stringent abortion restrictions have left organizers scrambling to support women seeking care on both sides of the border. “Because we are on the border with the United States, what happens there affects us,” Leticia Burgos Ochoa, an abortion rights activist and former Mexican senator based in Sonora, told NBC News.

Continued: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/mexican-state-sonora-closest-arizona-bans-abortions-creating-regional-rcna148060

The History Behind Arizona’s 160-Year-Old Abortion Ban

The state’s Supreme Court ruled that the 1864 law is enforceable today. Here is what led to its enactment.

By Pam Belluck
April 10, 2024

The 160-year-old Arizona abortion ban that was upheld on Tuesday by the state’s highest court was among a wave of anti-abortion laws propelled by some historical twists and turns that might seem surprising.

For decades after the United States became a nation, abortion was legal until fetal movement could be felt, usually well into the second trimester. Movement, known as quickening, was the threshold because, in a time before pregnancy tests or ultrasounds, it was the clearest sign that a woman was pregnant.

Unlocked: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/10/health/arizona-abortion-ban-history.html

Arizona supreme court upholds 1864 law banning almost all abortions

Justices rule to hold off on requiring state to enforce ban for 14 days, to allow advocates to ask lower court to pause it again

Carter Sherman
Tue 9 Apr 2024

The Arizona supreme court ruled Tuesday to let a law banning almost all abortions in the state go into effect, a decision that could curtail abortion access in the US south-west and could make Arizona one of the biggest battlefields in the 2024 electoral fight over abortion rights.

The justices said Arizona could enforce a 1864 near-total abortion ban, first passed before Arizona became a state, that went unenforced for decades after the US supreme court legalized abortion nationwide in the 1973 decision Roe v Wade. However, the justices also ruled to hold off on requiring the state to enforce the ban for 14 days, in order to allow advocates to ask a lower court to pause it again.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/apr/09/arizona-supreme-court-abortion-decision

USA – Planned Parenthood affiliates train abortion doulas to reduce stress for patients

BY: SOFIA RESNICK
MARCH 15, 2024

A 39-year-old single mother of two got up extra early on a recent Wednesday morning, hoping to be one of the first outside the Planned Parenthood clinic near Phoenix, Arizona.

The upside of not telling anyone about her abortion was that she wasn’t going to have to explain herself. The downside was that she couldn’t receive any pain medication, since she’d have to drive herself home. After scraping together $770 to pay for the procedure — $250 of which she said came from an abortion fund — she couldn’t afford an Uber for the 80-minute round trip. So she was overcome with relief when not only did the busy clinic not turn her away, but a retired nurse named Mary Cross offered to be her abortion doula, free of charge.

Continued: https://ohiocapitaljournal.com/2024/03/15/planned-parenthood-affiliates-train-abortion-doulas-to-reduce-stress-for-patients/

15.03.2024

Planned Parenthood Arizona

Arizona, Dominican Republic both grapple with 19th century abortion laws

BY: GLORIA REBECCA GOMEZ
DECEMBER 26, 2023

In Arizona, the state’s highest court is considering whether to restore a near-total abortion ban from 1864, and in the Dominican Republic, women are fighting against an all-out ban from 1884.

The just 20-year difference separating the two laws was striking for Sen. Anna Hernandez, D-Phoenix, who traveled to the Caribbean country earlier this month to learn what awaits women in Arizona if access to abortions is cut off.

Continued: https://www.azmirror.com/2023/12/26/arizona-dominican-republic-both-grapple-with-19th-century-abortion-laws/

26.12.2023

Anna Hernandez

Arizona Abortion Access Act

Human Rights Watch

Jennifer Driver

near-total abortion ban

Arizona court weighs 1864 abortion ban that risks ‘conditions of misery’

After months of disarray over the legality of abortion, the state supreme court will decide whether to reinstate ‘zombie’ ban

Carter Sherman
Tue 12 Dec 2023

Dr Gabrielle Goodrick can barely bring herself to talk about the weeks when Arizona banned abortion.

In the months after the US supreme court overturned Roe v Wade, abortion flickered in and out of legality in Arizona as state courts attempted to interpret a long-dormant 19th-century abortion ban that was suddenly relevant again. Goodrick, a longtime abortion provider in Phoenix, was forced to cancel patients’ appointments, then desperately try to reschedule them during the brief period of time when the procedure became legal again. Patients sometimes showed up at the clinic for their appointment, were turned away, and sobbed outside the clinic. Stressed-out staffers quit, but given all the uncertainty, Goodrick couldn’t hire new ones. She had to keep going with too few employees.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/dec/12/arizona-abortion-ban-supreme-court

Supreme Courts in 3 states will hear cases about abortion access this week

DECEMBER 11, 2023
By Katherine Davis-Young (KJZZ), Alice Fordham (KUNM), Hanna Merzbach (KHOL/Wyoming Public Media)

The future of reproductive rights for a wide swath of the Mountain West may be decided next week, as three state Supreme Courts hear arguments in cases that will determine abortion access in the region. Here's what to know.

Which law is the law in Arizona?
When the U.S. Supreme Court returned abortion regulating power to states, Arizona had two seemingly conflicting abortion laws on the books. One, passed just a few months before Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022, outlaws abortion after 15 weeks. The other, which dates back to 1864, is a near-total ban.

Continued: https://www.npr.org/2023/12/11/1218357869/state-supreme-courts-abortion-wyoming-new-mexico-arizona