Arizona OB/GYN discusses abortion politics in lead-up to 2024 election
Dr. DeShawn Taylor has led grassroots efforts to protect abortion access in state
Arizona is one of the critical states where reproductive rights will be fought this year. As a swing state, it will receive enormous funding and investment from political leaders who want to benefit from an increasingly powerful feminist movement.
Currently, abortion is legal up to the 15th week of pregnancy in Arizona. They allow abortions after that if the woman’s life is at risk. Fetal deformities are not an acceptable reason for abortions later in pregnancy. Much of this and an overall ban that had been on the books before Roe is now in litigation.
In January, the state supreme court heard arguments about whether a civil-war-era ban will go into effect.
Dr. DeShawn Taylor, an OB/GYN at Desert Star Institute of Family Planning in Phoenix, said providers are doing their best in the current climate.
“It's very disheartening,” Taylor said.
Before Roe v. Wade, the Arizona Supreme Court had decided that abortion was not protected under the state constitution. Taylor said the political makeup of the court hadn’t changed much since that time.
“I don't trust that the Arizona Supreme Court would rule differently than it did back in 1972,” Taylor said. “So, I am very concerned that we will have another moment in time when abortion is illegal in Arizona.”
Politically, Republicans in the state had historically been at least receptive to maintaining abortion access. Barry Goldwater supported abortion rights, as did many moderate voters there. But over the last 15 years, as is mirrored elsewhere, the party has become far more dogmatic about what positions and views its candidates can have and defend in public if they want to get the party’s nomination in the primary.
Anyone who fails to do that receives a stiff primary challenge in which defeat is likely.
Even before the Dobbs decision, restrictive laws existed that Taylor sought to address in her advocacy by building grassroots networks and lobbying the legislature.
“What Dobbs did was it just worsened that,” Taylor said.
Taylor said they’ve come close to flipping the legislature in the last few elections. One of the obstacles they’ve had is convincing politicians to take a position that enthusiastically declares their support for abortion access. Many within the political campaigns think more tepid approaches would sell better with voters, given the Catholicism of Latino voters and some of the more religious communities.
This is something that I came across in the research for my book. While George Michaels was seen as a heroic person for sacrificing his political career in New York in the name of abortion rights, many other politicians in other states saw their political careers take off as a result of championing reproductive freedom. In Colorado, Richard Lamm went from being an obscure lawmaker who helped pass an abortion rights bill to being elected governor multiple times.
“What people have in common is that they don't want the government involved in it,” Taylor said. “So you know, that's the message. The legislators need to make it clear to people that they support a person's right to have an abortion.”