Tell YOUR Representative to VOTE NO on HB2400 & HB2564!

TAKE ACTION NOW to help defeat these measures!

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 forced, 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.

To read Planned Parenthood's fact sheet on HB 2564, click here.
To read bill language for HB 2564, click here.

HB 2400 is an attempt to duplicate a current federal law with a prohibition on certain abortion procedures which are already illegal in Arizona, as in the rest of the nation. There is no need for state law to duplicate federal law and this law will not prevent even one abortion in Arizona. 

We all want to reduce the number of abortions performed in Arizona.  We must address this problem at its root.  By addressing the epidemic that is unplanned pregnancy.  Teens are getting pregnant at a rate of 40 per day, and Arizona has the second highest teen pregnancy rate in the nation.  It is the number one reason girls are dropping out of school!

To read Planned Parenthood's fact sheet on HB 2400, click here.
To read bill language for HB 2400, click here.

Instead of trying to pass bills that restrict access to reproductive care, legislators should pass HB 2544, a bill that will require Arizona schools to provide complete and responsible sex education to our youth.  We should all be a part of the solution and HB 2400 and HB 2564 are not a solution to any problem.

These bills must be stopped in the House. Please ask YOUR legislator to VOTE NO on HB 2400 and HB 2564 today! 

Sample Letter for Campaign

Subject: Please VOTE NO on HB 2400 & HB 2564!

Dear [ Decision Maker ] ,

As your constituent, 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 and HB 2400, the abortion ban bill.

These bills 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.

HB 2564 is a broad, far-reaching bill designed to restrict women's access to reproductive health care and birth control. It contains 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 refuse us information about and access to emergency contraception, birth control and other medications.

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

Arizona does not have an abortion problem; we have a prevention problem!

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.

Instead, I encourage you to pass HB 2544, a bill that will require Arizona schools to provide complete and responsible sex education to our youth.

We should all be a part of the solution and HB 2400 and HB 2564 are not a solution to any problem.

Please VOTE NO on HB 2400 and HB 2564.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Sincerely,

Campaign Launched:
March 04, 2009


Background Information

HB 2564:
 
This bill could restrict access to birth control, 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 if they have a personal objection.
 
Mandated Counseling & Imposed Waiting Period
HB 2564 includes a provision which requires state mandated information regarding abortion to be provided, in-person, to a woman 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
Arizona already requires written parental consent before a minor can access abortion services.  Requiring notarized parental consent for abortion requires the health care provider to secure the written and notarized consent of the minor’s parent or guardian.  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 early 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 highly 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 and The National Association of Nurse Practitioners believes that nurse practitioners, with appropriate preparation and medical training, are qualified to perform abortions.
 
HB 2400:
 
Women and their doctors should make health care decisions, not politicians.
 
This bill keeps doctors from using their medical judgment to decide what medical procedure is safest for each individual patient.
 
This bill sends the message that the state of Arizona believes politicians, not doctors, know what will best protect the health of a pregnant woman.
 
Banning abortion procedures does not stop abortions; it simply forces women and their doctors to make riskier decisions.
 
This bill dictates the medical procedure doctors can perform to protect pregnant women with serious health problems.