Reproductive rights supporters rally at Arizona Capitol ahead of Trump’s inauguration


Two days before President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration, crowds gathered at the Arizona Capitol to protest in anticipation of potential bans on health care and reproductive rights.The Saturday protest, organized by Planned Parenthood and its partner groups, aimed to inspire hope and raise awareness about women’s health care in Arizona.Speakers at the event included a nurse who shared her personal abortion story, Planned Parenthood’s Chief External Affairs Officer Erika Mach, and Marlee Valenzuela, president of Planned Parenthood Generation Action and chair of the Arizona College Democrats’ Women’s Caucus.”We are the majority and with our combined strength we can stop these extremists from threatening our bodily autonomy. Let’s make our voices heard and protect access to abortion, access to trans health care and access to contraceptives to assure that every single one of us can seek dignified health care free from stigma,” Mach said.”They are stifling us … we need to speak up”Heidi Ross, a nurse who took the stage to tell her personal abortion story, emphasized that abortion is not a decision that any woman goes into lightly.Ross spoke of needing to have an abortion with her third pregnancy because she was diagnosed with peripartum cardiomyopathy, or heart failure, when she was pregnant with her second child.”They are stifling us and we need to speak up. There are more of us than there are of them. We need to speak up and keep our First Amendment rights,” Ross said.Ross said she still has issues from what she felt was a heartbreaking choice, but she feels it brought more power to her voice in asserting that all women have the right to health care.Attendees of the event spanned all age groups, genders and backgrounds.”It’s usually a devastating thing happening to a woman in her pregnancy that she doesn’t want to have happen in the first place and she should have the right along with her doctor to choose,” Judy Wilder, 52, said.”I’m here to resist the incoming administration’s policy against multiple things, but mainly women’s rights, trans rights, and ordering what we can do with our health care,” Wilder said.Wilder’s sentiment was shared by many in the crowd, who held signs with slogans such as “Stop the War Against Women,” “Bans Off Our Bodies,” and “Trump’s Forced Birth Slavery.”‘Your Body, Your Choice’The protest comes in response to recent efforts to restrict abortion access in Arizona. A 160-year-old abortion ban resurfaced when an 1864 law was reinstated after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, which had protected abortion rights since 1973.The revisiting of historical precedent brought Grateful Zugore to protesting again.”I relaxed a little bit for a few years, thinking ‘OK, turn it over to the younger crowd,’ but what I see is this country is headed in the wrong direction, and I think it’s time to get involved and get back up and stand up for what’s right,” Zugore, 69, said.Zugore wore a shirt with the slogan “Your Body, Your Choice,” mentioning that he purchased it after he heard a story of kids saying, ‘Your body, My choice’ to their classmates.”It’s not up to us what others do with their bodies,” Zugore said. “What we can really do is remember this in our daily life.””The fear first came when Trump had his first presidency, and I was hoping that we would never see a time like that again, so I’m really afraid it is going to be even worse this time.” Tabitha Allison, 59, said.State Rep. Patty Contreras of District 12 highlighted laws such as the 24-hour waiting period required before a health care provider can perform a requested abortion. She also emphasized the importance of addressing the dissemination of biased or inaccurate information to individuals seeking abortions.”Yes, we passed on the abortion ban, but there’s so many laws on our state books that need to be taken off to protect women and help women,” Contreras said.Contreras said many constituents are frustrated about the way big issues have been handled by the federal government and are expressing fears of losing their rights at a state level because of it.”I think people are frustrated with the federal government. The fact that Donald Trump was reelected and he’s going to be coming into the office on Monday is scary for a lot of people in our community ― our women, our children, our LGBTQ+ community, our immigrants,” Contreras said.Contreras noted that many constituents are fearful of losing rights in gene …

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