Protestors gathered outside the Sandra Day O’Connor U.S. Courthouse in downtown Phoenix in support of reproductive justice early morning on Dec. 1, the first day the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments of the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization case, which could overturn the individual, constitutional right to an abortion.
The National Mobilization for Reproductive Justice coalition started by the organization Radical Women protested nationwide on Wednesday in Arizona, California, New York, Washington, and Washington, D.C., under notions of #TestifyforRoe and #MyDecisionAlone.
“What’s happening in Mississippi is just going to be a ripple effect,” Sarah Kin, organizer and attendee of the Phoenix rally, said. “Already, we have seen what has happened in Texas, and it’s just going to spread to states that already have a large Republican community.”
Radical Women PHX, the organizers for Phoenix’s protest, stood at the corner of Washington Street and 4th Avenue, calling attention to how the federal case will likely affect Arizona’s own restrictions to abortion, most recently with the passage of SB 1457. The bill classifies fetuses, embryos and fertilized eggs as “people” from point of conception; prohibits abortions on the basis of genetic abnormalities; and criminalizes doctor or clinicians “aiding and abeting” abortion processes.
This law is currently under review in the Ninth Circuit Court in Arizona after federal Judge Douglas Rayes blocked the part prohibiting abortions on the basis of genetic abnormalities in late September.
Arizona remains one of the states with greater restrictions to abortions, and with lawmakers continuing to push forward anti-abortion laws that restrict safe, legal access to abortion. The decision of the Dobbs case will likely solidify all restrictive measures lined up into law.
“Those with sufficient means will find work-arounds to access their full, reproductive healthcare options and exercise self-determination,” Susan Massey, organizer for Radical Women PHX, said in a letter to Judge Rayes that she read at the rally. “Any restriction on access to abortion has disproportionate impact on Black, Indigenous, other people of color, young people, and those struggling to make ends meet.”
Right now, 12 of 15 counties in Arizona have no abortion provider, according to Massey.
In 2019, approximately 36.9% of all abortions in Arizona were performed on non-Hispanic White women, and 39% performed on Hispanic or Latino women. Black women accounted for 10.6% of abortions, and the lowest number of abortions were among Native or Indigenous women, according to a report from the Arizona Department of Health and Services.
“There’s still going to be abortions, they’re just going to be unsafe abortions,” Kin said at the rally. “And where are [those seeking abortion] going to go? That affects a majority of people.”
Inaccessibility of abortions stems from lack or absence of healthcare, inability to travel, low income, discrimination, and forced sterilization.
Those most affected especially include poor or low-income families, Black, Indigenous, incarcerated women of color, immigrants in detention facilities, women with disabilities who are pressured or coerced — all “essentially forced” to undergo a pregnancy they cannot support as a result of these restrictions, according to Massey.
“To deny this respect and self-determination to more than half the U.S. population [is] the greatest injustice,” Massey said.
These issues were key points of Radical Women PHX’s protest that have been under attack historically in Arizona. Other issues include sex education, sexual self-determination for people with disabilitites, and defending queer and transgender rights.
“It starts like this — we know we are not in the minority opinion,” an attendee at the protest said. “We just need to be visible.”
Contact the reporter at jnwatso4@asu.edu.
