Tell the AZ Legislature to VOTE NO on HB2564!

The Bill to Restrict Abortion Access, HB 2564 is designed to undermine
access to health care for women!

The anti-choice agenda of the legislative machine is focusing almost exclusively on strategies to advance legislation that undermine a women’s right to access reproductive health care services, hurts families, promotes religion over science, and much more.  

HB 2654 is a far-reaching, broad bill that will undermine the ability of women to access health care.  This bill has a number of draconian components that are designed to interfere with a woman's right to obtain abortion services. Everything from mandated biased counseling and a government imposed waiting period, to allowing medical providers and hospitals to deny you critical health care services and information. Medical professionals are even allowed to deny us information about and access to emergency contraception and other medications.

 

Please click on the Tell Me More link below for more talking points and information.


We know and you know that the key is prevention!  Instead of introducing legislation aimed at restricting women's access to health care, the Arizona Legislature should pass HB 2544, a bill that will provide complete and responsible sex education to our youth.  We should all be a part of the solution and HB 2564 is not a solution to any problem.  This is unacceptable.

This bill must be stopped in the House Health and Human Services Committee. Please tell them to VOTE NO today!

Sample Letter for Campaign

Subject: Please VOTE NO on HB 2564!

Dear [ Decision Maker ] ,

I am writing to you today to urge you to vote no on HB 2564, the bill that seeks to deny women access to abortion care.

HB 2564 is a broad, far-reaching bill designed to restrict women's access to reproductive health care. There is no abortion problem in Arizona; there is a prevention problem in Arizona!

This bill will do absolutely nothing other than erect barriers to health care. If we really want to make a difference in the number of unplanned pregnancies in Arizona, we must provide people with the vital information necessary to prevent unintended pregnancies from occurring in the first place.

We all want to reduce the need for abortion, but we must address this problem at its root, by addressing the epidemic that is unplanned pregnancy.

This bill has a number of draconian components that do nothing but interfere with a woman's right to obtain abortion services. Everything from mandated biased counseling and a government imposed waiting period, to allowing medical providers and hospitals to deny us critical health care services and information. Medical professionals are even allowed to deny us information about and access to emergency contraception and other medications.

We should be able to access care without these undue burdens that do not apply to any other medical procedures.

We must address this issue today! We should all be a part of the solution and HB 2564 is not a real solution to any problem.

Please VOTE NO on HB 2564.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Sincerely,

Campaign Launched:
February 17, 2009


Background Information

HB2564

To read bill language for HB 2564, The Bill to Restrict Abortion Access , click here.

To read Planned Parenthood's Fact Sheet on HB 2564, click here.

 

The Bill to Restrict Abortion Access, HB2564, will change many of the laws and regulations currently in place regarding abortion. 

 

Overarching issues:

  1. Abortion will be more difficult to access, access to health care with be an issue because there will be fewer providers
  2. Government interference in the doctor/patient relationship, government will mandate health care information
  3. Abortion care will be more expensive
  4. Higher risks of damage to quality of care, substandard care
  5. As a result of these restrictions, women will delay their abortion care, increasing their health risks

Talking Points

  1. There is no abortion problem in Arizona, there is a prevention problem in Arizona.
  2. This bill does not solve any problems, these legislators want abortion care to be more expensive and less accessible, and as a result, it will be more dangerous
  3. This goes too far, is too extreme and puts women at risk with no regard for their well being.
  4. This represents the ideology of a small minority

The bill would require the use of the term unborn child instead of fetus in law and an unborn child will be as defined as a person from conception until birth. Additionally, the bill mandates specific biased information to be read to a patient during counseling; a forced 24-hour waiting period; notarized parental consent for minors to access abortion services; makes it harder for a minor to obtain a judicial bypass; prohibits nurse practitioners from performing surgical abortion; and allows all health care workers, including pharmacists, to refuse to provide information about or access to abortion care and emergency contraception on moral or religious grounds.


Mandated Counseling & Imposed Waiting Period
HB2564 includes a provision which requires state mandated information regarding abortion to be given to a patient 24 hours prior to the procedure. 

A mandatory 24-hour delay, which does not offer any health benefits to the woman, will result in increased expenses, travel difficulties, and medical risks. Likewise, these requirements are especially burdensome to rural and poor women, who may not be able to take extra days off from work, travel long distances, or find appropriate childcare while they are away from home.

Provider Refusal

The bill’s provider refusal language makes it more difficult for women to find health care professionals who will provide her with complete and accurate information and access to abortion care and emergency contraception. This regulation would disrupt Arizona’s health care delivery system at a time when more and more families are uninsured and under economic assault, fueling our health care crisis by denying women’s access to quality, affordable basic care.

The bill jeopardizes a patient’s right to know all her options by allowing providers to withhold critical health care services and information women need to make fully informed decisions about their health care, based on their personal biases; which means patients may not even be aware that they are not getting complete information.  There are already federal and state laws in place that protect medical professionals.

 

Judicial Bypass

This legislation will add additonal requirements upon a judge when considering allowing a pregnant minor to have an abortion without parental consent.  The burden of proof and factors HB2564 specifies for the judge to consider are already in applicable case law. Putting the burden of proof into statute will only serve to limit judges from considering other factors indicating maturity, which might be more appropriate in each particular case.

Notarized Parental Consent

Requiring notarized parental consent for abortion necessitates the health care provider to secure the written and notarized consent of the minor’s parent or guardian before performing an abortion.  Given that the majority of minors seeking abortion services have the support of one or both parents; this bill creates an undue barrier for young women trying to access health care.

Abortion Providers

Advanced practice clinicians, such as nurse practitioners, certified nurse midwives, and physician’s assistants, have been providing surgical abortions with impressive safety records for many years in the United States and in Arizona.

On May 14, 2008, the Arizona Board of Nursing ruled that performing first trimester abortion is within the scope of practice of a properly trained nurse practitioner. This legislation would overturn the will of the Arizona Board of Nursing and undermine its role in determining the scope of practice for Arizona nurses. 

The American Public Health Association supports the provision of first trimester abortion by appropriately trained NPs, CNMs, and PAs and The National Association of Nurse Practitioners  “believes that nurse practitioners, with appropriate preparation and medical collaboration, are qualified to perform abortions.”