Even After Arizonans Voted for Abortion Rights, the State GOP Wants to Defund Clinics That Discuss It
Once again, anti-abortion lawmakers prove that the only thing they hate more than our bodily autonomy is the will of the electorate.
Photo: Getty Images AbortionPolitics
Arizona’s journey to protect abortion access over the last year has been a nauseating roller coaster. In June, the state’s dormant, Civil War-era abortion ban almost took effect but was swiftly repealed by the legislature. In November, 62% of voters passed a ballot measure (Proposition 139) to enshrine a right to abortion in the state Constitution, leading to the repeal of the state’s 15-week ban. Now, Republicans are trying a new strategy to get rid of abortion: They want to defund any clinic or hospital that even discusses abortion.
Last week, the state Senate Government Committee advanced House Bill 2547, which would prohibit any health provider that receives funding from the state or any state agencies, and even cities, from “promoting” abortion—aka, even discussing it with patients. Health providers could be shut down for non-compliance, which reproductive rights groups warn amounts to a gag rule. But this is at odds with the ballot measure that passed in November, which bars the legislature from passing bills that infringe on someone’s access to abortion, which included only a few narrow exceptions, like if the proposed legislation stems from evidence-based medicine.
The GOP Senate Chairman Jake Hoffman laughably argued that HB 2547 is unrelated to the successful ballot measure. “There’s no reason to talk about 139 because this doesn’t deal with 139,” he said. “This deals with public funding.” Similarly, the bill’s sponsor, state Rep. Lupe Diaz (R), denied it’s a ban. “(Abortion) is legal. In my mind, that’s now in the marketplace and we need to let the marketplace go ahead and afford it rather than state funds support it,” he said before the state Senate. “We don’t need state funds to support Planned Parenthood.”