Doulas in Arizona and around the country don’t deliver babies, but these nonmedical labor assistants can make a difference in maternal health outcomes. Of 30 states where the maternal mortality rate is known, Arizona ranked ninth for these deaths from 2018 to 2020, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.
Ten more bills were given a do-pass recommendation in the Arizona Senate Health and Human Services Committee’s virtual meeting on Wednesday, one of which spurred a partisan debate on abortion policy.
Senate Concurrent Resolution 1009, sponsored by Sen. Sine Kerr, would express the Arizona Legislature’s support for the passage of the federal Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act. The resolution proved to be controversial among committee members, with Democratic Senators Tony Navarrete, Rosanna Gabaldon and Sally Ann Gonzales voting against the bill. Although the five “yes” votes it received allowed it to pass, the bill is regarded as politically motivated by its three disputants.