Tag Archives: Prescott

Meet Our Candidates: Jo Craycraft for State Senator, LD 1

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The time to fight back — and fight forward — for reproductive justice is fast approaching. The stakes are high in this year’s state election, with candidates for governor, secretary of state, attorney general, and other races on the ballot. The Arizona general election will be held November 6, 2018, with early voting beginning on October 10. Voters need to be registered by October 9 to cast their ballots. Reproductive health has been under attack, both nationally and statewide, but Planned Parenthood Advocates of Arizona has endorsed candidates who put our health and our rights first. Get to know them now in our series of “Meet Our Candidates” interviews, and make your voice heard in 2018!

[J]o Craycraft is running for the Arizona Senate seat in Legislative District 1, which is home to communities in the Verde Valley, Prescott Valley, and surrounding areas such as Prescott and Dewey-Humboldt. While the roots of these districts are rural and proud, the policies its representatives have supported over the last decade have stripped this region of resources and neglected the impact of the unregulated industry of sober living homes on the opioid epidemic.

“Arizonans are more engaged than ever in stewardship of their great state.”

Ms. Craycraft is running against Sen. Karen Fann, who is seeking re-election and has historically toed the GOP party line on issues important to Planned Parenthood. This district is also home to Rep. David Stringer, whose racist comments documented on social media seem emblematic of many of the area’s other lawmakers, such as U.S. Rep. Paul Gosar, who was recently targeted in an ad by six of his nine siblings for peddling conspiracy theories on social media and failing to represent the interests of his rural congressional district, which overlaps with LD 1.

Bolstered by an impressive resume and an even more impressive drive to serve all the people of this district, Ms. Craycraft was generous enough to take a break from campaigning and answer our questions on September 17, 2018.

Please tell us a little about your background and why you’re running for office right now in this political climate.

After a career that includes 30 years in law enforcement — 10 years as a police officer and 20 years in the FBI — an MBA and law degree, and owning a private investigation agency, I am now seeking to represent the people of Arizona’s Legislative District 1. My deep understanding of the law and history of meeting and interacting with people all along the socio-economic spectrum have informed my approach to common-sense and compassionate lawmaking. Continue reading →

A Visit to Jeff Flake’s Office: Fighting for Health Care

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Jeff Flake, 2014. Photo: Gage Skidmore

January 24 was a national day of action called by the groups MoveOn, Indivisible, and the Working Families Party. The goal was to visit our senators’ offices around the country with concerns about Donald Trump’s cabinet appointments. In Tucson, there was an action outside Sen. John McCain’s office, but instead of joining that, I decided to go by myself to Sen. Jeff Flake’s office to tell someone on his staff my health care story. I was surprised and delighted to find a group from the SaddleBrooke Democratic Club there before me, standing partly inside and partly outside the office, talking specifically about Trump’s cabinet nominees Jeff Sessions and Betsy DeVos. Someone offered me a letter about DeVos, which I refused, not wanting to dilute my message. I joined the group, and a few others straggled in.

We are stronger when we work together, and there is room for whatever kind of action you are able to take.

Several people spoke to a staff person about education and civil rights. One woman brought up the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and how it has helped her family, hoping that Flake would hear people like her who are afraid of what repeal would mean. Someone asked whether Sen. Flake received letters; he had sent in several with no response. There was also talk about what kinds of communications are most likely to receive the senator’s attention. Hint: It was not mass emails sent in by organizations. Personal communications in person or by phone, or personal letters, are more likely to get attention than emails.

A Latina woman sat down with me to get my information. When I asked what her position was, she said this was her first day as an intern in the office. I wished her well and congratulated her, but told her I wanted to speak with someone on the staff. The intern took my name and address, then referred me to a staff member, the same woman who had met with the group from SaddleBrooke. She was interested and friendly. I said I was there to discuss Medicare and Medicaid specifically because they were the reason I was alive today. More than nine years ago, when I had valley fever and developed lumps on my legs, my doctor sent me for a chest x-ray, which showed a spot on my lung. The radiologist recommended a CT scan for a better look at it. Continue reading →

Parental Notification Laws: What’s the Harm?

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parent teen communicationIf, in 1987, you had asked Bill and Karen Bell if minors should be required to obtain permission from their parents before receiving an abortion, they would have been all for it. It didn’t seem like an extreme or dangerous position — after all, shouldn’t parents have a right to know when a surgical procedure is being performed on their underage children?

Lack of access to effective contraception and safe abortion hurts women.

That all changed in 1988, when their 17-year-old daughter Becky died unexpectedly — 25 years ago today. Becky’s mysterious plea at the hospital, just before she passed away, was for her parents to “please forgive me.” Later, they found a letter that said, “I wish I could tell you everything, but I can’t. I have to deal with it myself. I can do it, and I love you.” Her words made sense when Becky’s death was determined to have been caused by a bacterial infection brought about by an illegal abortion.

In Indiana, where the Bell family resided, minors needed parental permission in order to obtain an abortion. Becky Bell, for whatever reason, didn’t feel she could confide in her parents about her unwanted pregnancy, and while judicial bypasses were technically an option, the judge in her district had never granted one.

The parental-consent law couldn’t force familial communication: Becky either obtained a back-alley abortion or attempted to self-abort — and the unsterilized equipment that was most likely used caused an infection that raged for six days before taking her life. Her grief-stricken parents wrote, “We would rather have not known that our daughter had had an abortion, if it meant that she could have obtained the best of care, and come back home safely to us.” Continue reading →

Will You Be Attending the Roe Luncheon?

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Volunteers at the 2010 Roe Luncheon in Tucson

Volunteers at the 2010 Roe Luncheon in Tucson

This post refers to the 2011 Roe Luncheon. Information about this year’s event can be found on our website.

This year marks the 38th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision, which recognizes a woman’s right to make her own health care decisions. Planned Parenthood Advocates of Arizona invites you to join us for our annual Roe v. Wade anniversary luncheon.

The Tucson luncheon is on Thursday, February 17, at the Doubletree Hotel. Our emcee will be David Fitzsimmons, of the Arizona Daily Star. We will be honoring Patti Caldwell, formerly the executive director of Planned Parenthood of Southern Arizona, for her years of service. We are very excited to be featuring Amy Allina as the keynote speaker at the Tucson luncheon. Ms. Allina is the Program Director of the National Women’s Health Network (NWHN). Amy is also a founding coordinator of Raising Women’s Voices for the Health Care We Need, a national initiative working to make sure women’s voices are heard and women’s concerns are addressed as policymakers put the new health reform law into action. Continue reading →