NIRH Condemns Arizona Passage of 15-week Abortion Ban
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 24, 2022
Contact: Kelly Novak, [email protected]
NEW YORK – The National Institute for Reproductive Health (NIRH) harshly rebuked the Arizona legislature’s passage of a 15-week abortion ban today, citing the harm it will cause to people seeking care, and the racist theatrics used by members of the Arizona legislature to advance this ban. NIRH works in partnership with Desert Star Family Planning, a Phoenix-based abortion provider, and the Empower Alliance, a coalition of Black-led reproductive justice organizations, that have been working tirelessly to oppose the 15-week ban.
“Simply put, Arizonians and those seeking care in Arizona deserve so much better,” said Andrea Miller, president of the National Institute for Reproductive Health. “People seeking abortion care need access in their own community, when they need it, period. Bans like these are based in anti-abortion politics, not science or medicine. The majority of people across this country, including in Arizona, support access to legal abortion.
“There is NO reasonable abortion ban. While politicians serve as conduits for the advancement of extreme anti-abortion ideology and political gain, pregnant people’s lives hang in the balance,” said Dr. DeShawn Taylor, Founder and CEO of Desert Star Institute for Family Planning in Phoenix, Arizona. “If anti-abortion elected representatives really want to support families – as they claim to – they would not be working to eliminate access to abortion care or push harmful narratives about abortion. Banning abortion has never and will never remove the need for abortion care.”
Abortion bans disproportionately harm already marginalized communities – including Black, Indigenous, LGBTQ+, and low-income communities. As the gutting or overturning of Roe v. Wade is anticipated this summer, elected representatives should be serving their constituents by finding ways to protect and expand access to abortion, not severely limiting or eliminating it all together.
Each year NIRH partners with reproductive health, rights, and justice advocates in states and cities across the country to protect and advance access to reproductive health care. In 2022, NIRH is partnering with Desert Star Family Planning and the Empower Alliance to challenge the entrenched conservative powers in the state and to expand access to high-quality care, especially for Black birthing people.
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The National Institute for Reproductive Health (NIRH) is an advocacy group that works directly with state and local reproductive health, rights, and justice organizations and allied groups to protect and advance access to reproductive healthcare. For more than 40 years, NIRH has been partnering with communities to build coalitions, launch campaigns, and successfully advocate for policy change. NIRH’s strategy is to go on the offensive and focus on communities where change is needed, so the fabric of reproductive freedom becomes harder to tear apart.