For Immediate Release
January 23, 2020
For Immediate Release
January 23, 2020
PHOENIX – Today on the 48th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, Rep. Raquel Terán spoke out against a new Republican bill designed to persecute and prosecute women for having an abortion. Rep. Walt Blackman's HB2650 would require prosecutors to bring criminal charges against any Arizona woman who has an abortion and any doctor who helps them. Last year, Terán travelled to El Salvador, which has a draconian abortion ban like the one Blackman is pushing. Terán met there with women serving prison sentences for having miscarriages, but they lacked the money for a legal defense, or were just unable to prove to a judge's satisfaction that they didn't have an abortion.
"Today, on the 48th anniversary of Roe v. Wade anti-choice Republicans in Arizona chose to introduce an incendiary bill that would charge patients with murder for their abortion," said Terán, D-Phoenix. "This bill is cruel, callous, extreme, and out of touch with the realities of our communities who are begging for COVID-19 relief not persecution and prosecution for being a woman and seeking healthcare."
Terán added, "When I traveled to El Salvador, I witnessed firsthand what can happen to vulnerable women and their families who have no reproductive freedom. I spoke with several impoverished women who were imprisoned because they had abortions, and in some cases miscarriages that were prosecuted as abortions. This is not the future we want for Arizona."
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