The Planned Parenthood Action Fund and unions are running ads in Arizona promoting Proposition 139, the Right to Abortion Initiative. Funded also by the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and SEIU-United Healthcare Workers West, the ads contain misleading language about Arizona’s current law, such as stating abortion is illegal.
An ad titled “Waiting” states twice that there is a ban on abortion in Arizona. However, state law currently permits abortions up until the 15th week. Abortion hasn’t been illegal in the state for many years. After the Supreme Court reversed Roe v. Wade in 2022, a judge suspended Arizona’s old law prohibiting most abortions. The Arizona Legislature then passed a law permanently rescinding the law, leaving in place the new 15-week law enacted in 2022.
A woman’s voice narrates regarding the current law, “It forces women who are miscarried or having complications to wait, wait until a medical emergency.”
There is nothing in the law stating that doctors can’t assist women with miscarriages or medical complications related to pregnancy or abortion. It only prohibits actual abortions after 15 weeks. The law penalizes the doctor, not the mother.
Pro-abortion advocates claim that women died from botched abortions in states that passed more restrictive abortion laws after Roe v. Wade was reversed, since they were not allowed to receive care. However, these allegations have been refuted.
In Georgia, they claimed a mother died as a result of the state’s 2022 abortion law, which banned abortions after six weeks (the law was struck down by a judge a few days ago). Amber Nicole Thurman died in 2022 from infection following a chemical abortion.
Dr. Christina Francis, CEO of the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists, said that Thurman drove to North Carolina to obtain an abortion at nine weeks pregnant. Francis said during an interview on Fox News that “an employee of the clinic gave her the high-risk abortion drugs, mifepristone and misoprostol, and she took those drugs and, unfortunately, four to five days later, she went to her local hospital because she got heavy bleeding. She was vomiting blood.”
Francis said the hospital she went to for treatment failed to recognize the difference between sepsis and an incomplete abortion, which “even a first-year resident would be able to” distinguish. Instead of giving her “an immediate D&C and then antibiotics,” they “waited 20 hours before they took her to the operating room.” Francis said it was a mistake the hospital made that had nothing to do with the law.
The ad concluded, “Voting yes on Prop. 139 puts women and doctors back in charge.”
It doesn’t say what “in charge” means. Prop. 139 legalizes abortion up until birth, including partial-birth abortion. It removes the requirements that doctors be involved. Instead, “health care professionals” can provide abortions, according to former Arizona legislator Nancy Barto, who was defeated for reelection in 2022 after progressives targeted her over championing pro-life legislation. Arizona law states that health care professionals include athletic trainers, veterinarians, chiropractors, acupuncturists, dentists, massage therapists, podiatrists, and optometrists.
A second video ad also refers to “Arizona’s abortion ban.” A couple said in the video that they were told their baby would not survive, but were not allowed to abort it due to the ban. The ad said nothing about California with its 9-month abortion law just a few hours away as an option for the middle class looking couple. It didn’t state whether they drove there and got an abortion.
A third video ad featured a doctor who said he has a daughter, “and I don’t want to sit passively by in the fight for her life.” The ad apparently was again alluding to the claim that women are dying due to the states who passed laws after Roe v. Wade was reversed.
Cindy Dahlgren, a spokesperson for the campaign opposing Prop. 139, It Goes Too Far, told The Arizona Sun Times the ads contain lies. “They’re lying to voters about what this amendment is about, telling them a ban when there’s not, and that is a lie.” She said Arizona law specifically states that doctors can assist women who have medical issues with miscarriages and ectopic pregnancies, and do not need to wait for a medical emergency. Dahlgren said even pr0-abortion Attorney General Kris Mayes confirmed this in June.
Dahlgren said It Goes Too Far asked the Prop. 139 campaign seven times to debate them and answer voters’ questions, and the campaign turned them down every time. “This is offensive to voters,” she said, “they should be able to defend their amendment. They only talk about it in generalities, never talk about the specifics.”
Arizona Right to Life filed a lawsuit against Prop. 139 earlier this year over “misrepresent[ing] and conceal[ing] the principal provisions” in its summary. Many petition signature gatherers were caught on video stating incorrect information about Prop. 139 to persuade voters to sign. Some of them said all abortion was currently illegal in Arizona, even to save the life of the mother.
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Rachel Alexander is a reporter at The Arizona Sun Times and The Star News Network. Follow Rachel on X / Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Ad” by Yes on Prop. 139.
