Press Release: SCOTUS Decision to Overturn Roe v. Wade

TUCSON – PCDP CHAIR, BONNIE HEIDLER released the following statement on the Supreme Court Decision on Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization:

The Supreme Court has taken a giant step backward for human rights in its ruling on the Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Organization case. In this decision, the Court has effectively vacated the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision which gave American women and families the ability to decide when to start a family without fear of arrest or death…which is what happened to my grandmother.

My grandmother, after giving birth to my mother only 11 months prior – found herself pregnant again. She already had two small children when my mother came along. She and her husband (my grandfather) chose to have an abortion. The only option availbale to them at that time was a “back-alley” abortion; my grandmother lost her life during this back-alley abortion, leaving my grandfather with an 11-month-old and two small children. This tragedy had generational impacts that rippled through my family which can still be felt today.

The Court has rolled our country back to the dark ages of forcing women to have back-alley abortions like my grandmother had. Red state after Red state, has already approved legislation that would outlaw abortion when triggered by this decision. The Justices that decided the fate of millions of women today are mostly conservative men and a woman raised in an organization described by scholars as a “religious cult.” Women have autonomy over their bodies and are the only ones who should decide if and when to end a pregnancy.

This is outrageous. We must focus on the Arizona State Legislature, the Governorship, and all the other state offices in the soon approaching, and incredibly important November midterm election. This election will decide whether Arizona becomes a state which returns to the barbaric dark ages of abortion restrictions, or becomes a state that respects the decisions of women to terminate a pregnancy. The Legislature and the Governor can decide to put up roadblocks to abortions, or humanely create mechanisms by which women who need abortions are able to seek medical care safely and without fear of reprisal.

WE decide who will be elected in November. This is one of the best possible reasons to vote for Democratic candidates for these positions in 2022. I implore all of us to get to know our local candidates running for Legislative Districts in Pima County, and all other local and state offices. I implore all of us to get out to vote in November and make sure that we elect both a governor and a legislature committed to protecting a woman’s right to choose.

Click here to read the full press release

Another attack on voting rights | July 1, 2021

Another attack on voting rights
In a 6-3 decision today, all conservative Supreme Court Justices voted in favor of keeping Arizona HB 2023 in place, thereby continuing to disenfranchise Arizona voters of color, particularly those living in rural areas and on reservations.

It will still be illegal to deliver a neighbor’s early mail-in ballot, even if it prevents that voter from casting their vote. Those who cast a ballot in the wrong precinct will also continue to be punished by not having their vote counted.

In their majority opinion, these judges claim that these voting regulations will have a small impact on racial minorities as opposed to white voters, and that any differences in how communities are the result of differences in “employment, wealth, and education” (Opinion, p. 18). The same logic was used to justify literacy tests, wherein illiterate groups were barred from voting under the premise that very few illiterate people actually cast a ballot. This twisted perspective ignores the long term consequences of systemic racism and favors a white, upper class majority.

We call on Senators Sinema and Kelly to speak out against what has happened today, and to work with Congress to protect the voting rights of all Arizona residents.

Our state suffered a huge loss today, but we must not give up the fight to see a more equitable future for all.

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