Arizona Taliban Wants to Criminalize Women and Their Doctors For Abortion
Home » Arizona Taliban Wants to Criminalize Women and Their Doctors For Abortion
The
Advertisement
Rep. Walt Blackman, R-Snowflake, had vowed to run such a bill late last summer, calling abortion clinics “death factories” and saying women who terminated pregnancies needed to “spend some time in our Arizona penal system.”
At the time, he shrugged off legal protections enshrined in federal law, arguing that Roe v. Wade is only an “opinion” and the U.S. Supreme Court should “honor (Arizona’s) sovereignty.”
House Bill 2650 reflects that view, saying county attorneys must pursue criminal prosecutions “regardless of any contrary or conflicting federal laws, regulations, treaties, court decisions or executive orders.”
Blackman, a outspoken opponent of abortion from Snowflake who represents Legislative District 6, did not respond to
Phoenix New Times request for comment. But he famously spelled out his views in a video published on Facebook on August 25, 2020. If anybody goes into those centers and say they want to end a life and there is no reason to end a life other than the person is spouting, My body my choice, that is murder, he said in the video. If you want to spout, My body my choice, the consequence is you need to spend some time in the Arizona penal system.
Constitution Day isn t until Sep. 17. However, Tuesday was constitutional amendment day at the Iowa Capitol as proposals to let Iowans vote to create a state-level Second Amendment and reject a Supreme Court finding of a right to an abortion advanced.
Kim Laube, director of life ministries for Lutheran Family Service, also spoke at the statehouse hearing.
(As above) “An inappropriate ruling by judicial activists intentionally tied legislators’ hands,” she said, “rendering it virtually impossible in the absence of a constitutional amendment to legislatively impose any reasonable restriction on abortion.”
Two Republicans on a House subcommittee voted to advance the proposal to the House Judiciary Committee. Representative Beth Wessel-Kroeschell of Ames, the only Democrat on the subcommittee, says legislators should focus on other issues.
(As above) “We should be talking about our increased maternal death rates,” she said. “We should be talking about access to prenatal care.”