In the year following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe vs. Wade, access to abortions in Arizona has significantly diminished, while persistent threats to reproductive rights continue to loom. The fear of criminal prosecution drove almost all abortion clinics in the state to cease providing abortion care immediately after the landmark ruling in the Dobbs vs. Jackson Women’s Health Organization case on June 24. Subsequently, the availability of abortion care in Arizona experienced a turbulent pattern of resuming, halting, and resuming again.
The Dobbs decision granted states the authority to establish their own abortion laws, effectively removing any federal standard safeguarding abortion access. In Arizona, this outcome resulted in confusion, legal battles, and sporadic interruptions in abortion care, leaving many individuals seeking reproductive healthcare in a state of uncertainty.
The Arizona Central did an article on the topic which includes a quote from NJWC AZ’s President Civia Tamarkin:
“The case is still pending. All we could ask for was a temporary injunction,” said Civia Tamarkin, president of the National Council of Jewish Women Arizona, which was one of the plaintiff groups that went to court seeking to stop the so-called “fetal personhood” law from taking effect. “This case is significantly important to access abortion in the state of Arizona because personhood laws by their very definition would potentially criminalize both the termination of the pregnancy and the actions of pregnant persons.”