For many people, the start of the New Year is marked by plans and vows to make life changes and start fresh. Some people go on diets , some give up nasty habits, and others reconcile differences with loved ones. Then there are those who set out to impose on the lives and health of millions of Arizonans, as is the case of for 61 of the 90 Arizona Legislators. This year’s legislative session was a deliberate, detrimental attack on women’s freedoms, women’s health and the intelligence of women to make decisions regarding their own bodies, their fate and their lives.

Through the nine anti-choice bills that were proposed by members of the House and Senate, opponents of Planned Parenthood sought to mandate regulations that try to eliminate abortion out of existence, stigmatize not only abortion, but the individuals who seek this type of medical care as well as harass the Planned Parenthood network including patients, staff, volunteers and supporters.

House Bill 2416 is one of the bills that try to eliminate abortion out of existence. It redefines taking the abortion pill as “surgery.” It is clearly an unnecessary, extravagant, over-regulation that will result in more than half of Arizona’s miniscule population of abortion providers becoming ineligible to provide care. Women who live in Arizona’s rural areas will lose access to abortion entirely, as abortion-by-pill is currently the only form of care outside Phoenix and Tucson. Because abortion-by-pill is used by women in the fifth to ninth week of pregnancy, this proposal aims to reduce abortion early in pregnancy which could result in more surgical abortion which is potentially riskier than by pill. Continue reading →