10 March 20th-March 26th, 2025 phoenixnewtimes.com PHOENIX NEW TIMES | NEWS | FEATURE | FOOD & DRINK | ARTS & CULTURE | MUSIC | CONCERTS | CANNABIS | anti-abortion restrictions. They aim to repeal the bans on telemedicine appoint- ments, the mailing of abortion pills and abortion advertising, among others. These bills would also get rid of abortion reporting requirements, certain clinic regulations, the 24-hour waiting period and parental consent requirements. They’ve gone nowhere. Republicans have a majority at the Capitol and can decide which bills get heard and which don’t. Only a few restriction-loosening bills have been assigned to committees. None have advanced to a floor vote. It’s “a contin- uation of the same-old-same-old partisan way that Republicans in the legislature have governed,” said Democratic state Sen. Priya Sundareshan. Republican lawmakers have also pushed bills to further restrict abortion. Seven anti-abortion bills have been intro- duced this session. They would further restrict access to abortion pills and cut funding for abortion-providing health centers, provide parental access to medical records and promote anti-abortion mate- rial on state websites. “This is a slap in the face of the voters,” former state lawmaker and current abor- tion rights activist Athena Salman said during a press conference at the Arizona Capitol on March 5. Those bills are also doomed. No matter how much support they get in the legisla- ture, Hobbs will veto them. But Hobbs can’t do anything about the anti-abortion laws that are already in place, and Democrats can’t do anything to knock them down in the legislature. That’s not a uniquely Arizona problem. After Ohio passed its abortion rights amendment in November 2023, abortion restrictions remained on the books, explained Guttmacher Institute state policy associate Kimya Forouzan. “Oftentimes, the states that pass ballot initiatives, their state legislature are unfortunately just hostile to abortion,” Forouzan said. That leaves the courts. Now that the 15-week ban is dead, abor- tion rights activists are in “continuous conversations with partners and providers to determine what laws should be challenged next,” said ACLU Arizona spokesperson Amanda Mollindo in an email. As to the exact game plan to untie this complicated knot of anti-abortion restrictions, abortion rights advocates aren’t sure. “There is this incremental web of restrictions that then creates this entire picture. And I don’t know how litigation untangles all of that,” Taylor said. “So it takes a lot of effort to figure out where the tentacles are going so we don’t miss some- thing that we can repeal.” Even if the restrictions do someday go away — even if Ortiz’s bill repealing them all is somehow resurrected and passed — abortion providers fear that lasting damage has been done to Arizona’s health care infrastructure. Providing abortions is a hard way to make a living. Like Pangasa, many can afford to do so only on a part-time basis. “Most of us have other full-time jobs and are not able to dedicate our entire weeks or lives to care at Planned Parenthood,” Pangasa said. Mainstream health care has marginalized abortion care and it’s hard to build that system back. “When you devalue the infrastructure of something, when it becomes legal, it doesn’t mean that it is going to be more accessible,” Pangasa said. Taylor would love to see the day when abortion is more accessible, when a woman can enter a clinic seeking an abortion and obtain one without having to run a gauntlet of prerequisites. She doesn’t know if that will ever happen, but she’s determined to bring that day closer. “Abortion was more popular than any other candidate during the November elec- tion, so we see that as a mandate,” she said. “We have clean bills that we can continue to introduce until the conditions are favor- able for them to actually pass.” Until that day arrives, she’ll continue to spend days on her feet scurrying between patients seeking reproductive care. When the last patient leaves, she’ll return to her office, pour another cup of coffee and open the laptop covered in abortion rights stickers. “Abortion is Healthcare,” one reads. When Arizona finally treats it that way, Taylor can rest. State Sen. Priya Sundareshan and abortion rights activist Athena Salman speak at a rally at the Arizona Capitol in March. (Morgan Fischer) No Silver Bullet from p 9
