Local opinion: Abortion care is health care

Abortion care is health care. We all need to vote YES on Prop. 139, the Arizona Abortion Access Act, to protect the health of women and families in our community.

In Arizona, people are entitled to make important health decisions with their families and under the guidance of their health care physician. Proposition 139, the Arizona Abortion Access Act, will protect the essential and deeply personal relationship between a woman and her doctor by securing her right to abortion care in our state constitution. It is time to end the politics of women’s health care caused by abortion bans and their negative impacts on public health in Arizona.

Public health policy is designed to improve health outcomes and well-being for individuals and the community. Abortion bans are bad public health policy. Access to care depends on a strong health care system that includes an adequate number of providers with the skills and medical solutions to solve patient issues. Abortion bans weaken public health infrastructure and leave doctors afraid to provide care because of threats of severe professional, civil, and criminal penalties. This will inevitably lead to doctors leaving the state or turning down job offers. Abortion bans also discourage patients from having honest conversations with their doctors about their health care needs.

Over my many decades working as a public health professional developing and evaluating public health programs, I have seen that punitive health policies such as abortion bans most negatively impact our low-income residents and people living in rural and under-resourced areas. Maternal health providers are less likely to work in states with restrictive abortion laws, particularly in our rural communities, placing women and children at higher risk of illness and even death. Studies on maternal mortality across all 50 states demonstrate higher rates of maternal death in states where abortion care is restricted. While many factors may contribute to this contrast, abortion restrictions appear to reflect a larger indifference to women’s health care.

We need to permanently protect the right to abortion care in order to ensure that patients and providers do not face legislative restrictions that criminalize the act of providing health care. Criminalizing abortion care endangers patients and violates public health standards, medical ethics, and human rights. Prop. 139, the Arizona Abortion Access Act, is the only solution to stopping extreme bans from taking effect and from negatively impacting public health in our state.

I encourage you to vote YES on Prop. 139, the Arizona Abortion Access Act.