Arizona leader a rising star in feminism
Amy Fitch-Heacock showed her grit and skill in leading the state's effort to pass a ballot initiative.
(Amy Fitch-Heacock speaks into the microphone at a political event.)
Many leaders earned their stripes in the women’s movement in the last few years with hard-won victories for abortion rights in states that tended to vote Republican historically.
I feel it’s important to profile young men and women who’ve made a significant difference. As the fallout from the election hits the highest levels of feminism, many decision-makers will look to shake things up by elevating new leaders and amplifying different voices. Amy Fitch-Heacock is one of the young people who’ve struck me as someone who could go on to a legendary career in the women’s movement.
She led Arizona’s ballot initiative effort. Voters in the state had overwhelmingly supported its passage. Fitch-Heacock’s work hadn’t begun with this year’s effort, though. I first spoke to her several years ago after the Dobbs decision. They had sought unsuccessfully that year to get a ballot initiative but fell short because of time constraints and looming deadlines.
“What stuck out to me this time around was how everybody took us seriously,” Fitch-Heacock said. “This time, in the wake of Dobbs, finally, people were willing to come on board and collaborate on something that would work and would restore abortion protection in Arizona.”
She remembers some heart-wrenching stories that strengthened her resolve to push for abortion law reform. One soldier living on a base messaged her online and told Fitch-Heacock that his wife needed an abortion after a fetal anomaly that would have caused death. She gave him resources on where to get an abortion out of state.
Fitch-Heacock also remembers a case in which a 10-year-old girl was impregnated by her father and couldn’t get permission from her parents to get an abortion.
But it wasn’t just saddening stories; it was also ones that uplifted people by finding common causes. One woman was reluctant to sign the petition for the initiative while with her church group, but they later met her at her house, and she signed it. The woman pointed out the pro-choice homes in the area, including the ones belonging to Republicans. They found more signatures that way.
“Those are three really poignant stories that really have sat heavy with me but also have given me the hope to continue to do this work,” Fitch-Heacock said.
People don’t realize the importance of grassroots campaigning to political success. I recently saw Jon Stewart joke about the ineffectiveness of knocking on doors to change minds. I’m a fan of Stewart, but if he saw what I did in Ohio and elsewhere, he would have seen the power of in-person communication versus the distance of discussing these things on social media or online. Those technologies can help advance candidacies but aren’t a substitute for retail politics. The same is true of comedy, I suppose.
Fitch-Heacock agrees about meeting people where they’re at.
“When you have a face-to-face conversation with somebody, it makes all the difference,” she said. “I tell people all the time, ‘You win races when you see faces.’”
I interviewed Amy at a far greater length, which I will include in my next book. I plan on profiling other key leaders across the country, but I believe she should be elevated to a nationally prominent role.