Arizona Republicans want to put my doctor in jail

Eva Burch is a Democratic senator from Arizona.

Last month, I had a safe, legal abortion in Arizona. Today we are all tied up in white knots, wondering if we are going to start throwing doctors in jail for the care they gave me. American people: We need to talk.

I am a state senator from Arizona. I am also a nurse and a mother of two. My husband and I live in Mesa, where we take care of my sons, our two dogs, and a very well-fed cat. Okay, okay, we have three cats.

We weren't trying to get pregnant. We had two failed pregnancies in the last two years and had stopped actively trying. But I wasn't on birth control either, and finding out I was pregnant brought on those hope-induced giggles you try to stifle for fear of pissing you off.

One ultrasound after another, the frustration set in. The pregnancy was not viable. Again. I had a rather bad experience with my miscarriage in 2022 and I didn't want to go through that again. We scheduled an abortion. I felt very peaceful. For a moment anyway.

At my first doctor visit with Planned Parenthood, the doctor and I discussed that my pregnancy was not viable and I shared the blood work and ultrasound with her. Despite this, she was asked to ask me why I had an abortion. She was asked to tell me that I could consider adoption or fostering instead of an abortion. He was asked to tell me that if I chose to continue my pregnancy, the father would have to provide me with financial support. He was asked to do another transvaginal ultrasound. He was prompted to ask me if I wanted to look at it.

I stopped feeling at peace and another feeling entered my stomach and spine and settled in the part of my brain I usually reserve for bullies, bad drivers and long lines. It was anger. Not angry at the doctor, who was as incarcerated as I was, but angry at the politicians who had clearly put laws in place to force doctors to try to force their patients to have an abortion, regardless of the circumstance.

My abortion took place less than three weeks before the Arizona Supreme Court issued its decision to uphold the total ban on abortion since 1864. The only exception it provides is if the pregnant patient is actively dying.

Now Republican lawmakers who have pushed an anti-abortion agenda for decades are trying to back down, in an apparent act of political desperation. At any point in time, the Arizona Legislature could have repealed that ban and shut down the Supreme Court. The bill to repeal the ban, sponsored by state Rep. Stephanie Stahl Hamilton (D), is still gathering dust as Republicans dance around the issue and dream up excuses.

It's an interesting conundrum for Arizona's Republican lawmakers. They know that this ban is terribly unpopular and will cost them politically. They don't want to allow a Democratic bill to succeed in solving the problem, but they don't want to anger their core constituents by advocating a solution themselves.

There is also the fact that most of these Republicans face crippling cowardice against the “Freedom Caucus” of the Arizona Legislature. This vocal minority of extremists is pulling the strings on who will be challenged in the next election cycle, and they've already issued a glowing statement of support for the ban. To challenge them is to play re-election roulette.

Instead, Republican leaders are spouting their usual nonsense, saying Democrats want unlimited partial abortions at birth through the ninth month of pregnancy. Not only will you find no record of Arizona Democratic legislators supporting such an idea, but there are no abortion providers in this state or the country that provide such services. It proves that the Republican strategy continues to be: “When you can't win, lie.”

There is only one solution to this abortion problem and it lives at the ballot box in November. We need to elect pro-choice candidates up and down, from the White House to state legislatures. The facts of the day remain that this means a vote for the Democrats.

Until Republicans are willing to release their ransom on this issue, abortion rights will continue to erode across the country.

There seems to be only one language these politicians speak. The risk of losing power is all they will respond to, and the time to make that move is now. I'll keep telling my story, consequences be damned, and I'll see you in November.