(The Center Square) – Five women shared their abortion stories Thursday evening to garner support for Prop. 139 which would put abortion access up until fetal viability in Arizona’s constitution.
After Roe v. Wade was repealed, Arizona enacted a 15-week abortion ban, meaning that women are able to get an abortion until 15 weeks unless the woman’s life is in danger. Following this, the Arizona Supreme Court attempted to initiate an 1864 territorial-era law, completely banning abortion unless the woman’s life is in danger with no exceptions for rape or incest. This was repealed by Gov. Katie Hobbs before it could be enacted.
However, some Arizona women have been advocating for Prop. 139 due to issues they’ve faced under the 15-week abortion ban.
Arizonan Ashley Ortiz spoke Thursday about her pregnancy experience at 39-years-old. She had tried to get pregnant and was excited when she discovered she was pregnant with a son. However, during an appointment, she discovered that the pregnancy was no longer viable. She was devastated.
Normally, her doctor would have been able to perform a routine abortion, terminating the pregnancy with minimal risk. But, it was too late for that, not medically, but legally. Ortiz’s gestation was at 20 weeks, meaning that her OBGYN could not legally perform an abortion. She had to wait until her baby’s heart stopped beating or she went into sepsis.
Due to her untimely care, she had to have an emergency C-section.
“Had Arizona politicians not decided that they knew better than doctors, this would have been avoidable,” Ortiz said.
Another Arizonan woman, Morgan Tucker, spoke of her experience of becoming pregnant at 37 with twins in 2020. Unfortunately, one of the fetuses had a critical heart defect that was not only fatal for the fetus but for the other twin and Tucker.
Tucker’s OBGYN recommended a “selective fetal reduction,” where one fetus is terminated to save the life of the other fetus. However, as she was past the 15-week limit, she ended up having to travel to Los Angeles and pay $9,000 to have this procedure done.
“This was necessary healthcare,” Tucker said.
Other women present discussed their former abortion experiences that would not have been possible under current law.
Flagstaff Resident Nicole Walker told her story about how she was raped at 10-yeras-old by a her 14-year-old babysitter. At about 11, she became pregnant. Fortunately, she was able to get an abortion, but she didn’t see it as being fortunate. She related it to being shamed for catching a baseball, but not meaning to catch the baseball or even knowing that she was playing baseball.
“My abortion wasn’t a choice, it was my life,” Walker said.
She said that if she was unable to receive that abortion at 11, whether because she was too far along or of any other restrictions, it would have completely altered her life.
“I would be a prisoner subject to a body’s whims and not my body’s whims, but subject to a teenage boy’s who as far as I can tell, suffered no consequences,” Walker said.
However, the campaign, “It Goes Too Far,” says that Prop. 139 is not the answer and that Arizona’s current 15-week ban is enough.
Arizona woman Lori from Tucson said that she is voting against Prop. 139 because of an experience she had when she was a teenager.
Lori said that she was groomed by a youth pastor at the age 14 and eventually became pregnant. The pastor, who was much older than her, took her to Planned Parenthood to receive an abortion. She said that she remembers walking down the hallway in the clinic to speak with a counselor thinking that she could finally tell someone about the abuse she was suffering from.
“They gave me a handful of condoms and said, ‘don’t let this happen again,’” Lori said. “The fact that I walked into two different clinics crying with a man who was obviously older than me… and nobody questioned anything.”
She said that since this time, there have been safeguards put in place including informed consent that she thinks would have prevented her from the continued abuse she went through following her abortion.
“I’m going to be voting no on Prop. 139 because abortion is still legal in the state and so I don’t see how removing safeguards is a way to improve anything,” Lori said.
As Roe v. Wade is no longer in law at this time, Arizonans will have the opportunity to vote Prop. 139 into the Arizona constitution over the next month. Otherwise, abortion regulations will be up to the state.
