Dr. Catherine Nichols Special to the Arizona Daily Star
The following is the opinion and analysis of the writer:
As an organization committed to electing pro-choice women to office, Arizona List has been working for two decades to elect women to public office in order to support reproductive rights. When Roe was overturned, we knew we needed to move this into a constitutional right in the state of Arizona. Arizona List members were committed to support the Arizona for Abortion Access Act. We know that voting YES on Proposition 139 in November will make Arizona a safer place for women and girls and their health care needs.
Why is Arizona List an anchor partner of the Arizona for Abortion Access coalition? Because this coalition includes organizations that defend rights like the ACLU; it includes medical personnel including doctors and nurses; and it includes community leaders from all political parties. The team at Arizona List has been working hard on this citizen’s initiative for over a year because everyone deserves the freedom to make their own healthcare decisions. We want medical professionals involved in these private decisions, not politicians with agendas.
I have worked with three other initiatives in the state of Arizona. All three worked to broaden health care in the state. And Arizonans were generous. Every initiative passed overwhelmingly. Arizonans voted yes to expand health care for the working poor (twice) and last election they voted to eliminate medical debt. When I started circulating petitions for this initiative, I heard it again and again. Arizonans across the political spectrum are generous people. They share a strong commitment to individual rights to decide when and how to start a family.
Our citizen initiative process gives Arizonans real power. It is a fundamental part of our healthy democracy. I wrote my dissertation on how we used it before. And I experienced it first-hand this year. Thousands of volunteers came through our doors across Tucson, Phoenix, Yuma and Flagstaff to pick up petitions, talk to their neighbors, and engage with voters on this issue. They drove up from Santa Cruz, down from Yavapai and across from Cochise just to sign petitions at our office. Together with coalition partners, we collected more signatures than any other citizen initiative ballot measure in Arizona history — almost a fifth of the voters in the entire state participated. People of Arizona want to stop playing politics with our healthcare, our freedom, and our rights.
Voting yes on the Arizona for Abortion Access Act protects Arizonans, especially those suffering from pregnancy complications and survivors of violence, from the extreme bans we have on the books now. It allows everyone to have equal rights to make health care decisions. It is time. Join all of us at Arizona List and vote yes on the Arizona for Abortion Access Act.