Arizona state senator tells chamber she needs abortion because pregnancy is ‘unviable’ – as she slams laws that forced her to take invasive tests and questionnaires designed to dissuade women from terminations

A Democratic Arizona senator announced on the floor that she needed an abortion, then blasted her Republican colleagues for passing laws that she said have made it difficult for her to get one.

Eva Burch, mother of two children, spoke in the Senate on Monday about her decision to terminate her pregnancy because she is carrying a non-viable fetus.

“After numerous ultrasounds and blood draws, we have determined that my pregnancy is once again not progressing and is not viable,” she began. ‘And once again I have scheduled an appointment to terminate my pregnancy

“I don’t think people should have to justify their abortions, but I choose to talk about why I made this decision because I want us to have meaningful conversations about the reality of how the work we do in this body affects people.” influences the world. real world.’

Surrounded by other women from the state legislature,

Burch, a registered nurse, said she was about eight weeks pregnant and had to undergo multiple invasive tests and lecture on alternatives to abortion in order to receive care.

Arizona state law bans abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy, with no exceptions for rape or incest, and the state Supreme Court will rule on an 1864 law that imposes a near-total ban on abortions this year.

“The only reason I had to hear those things was a cruel and uninformed attempt by outside forces to shame, coerce, and scare me into making a decision other than the one I knew was good for me was,” Burch said.

Eva Burch, a mother of two, said she has to terminate her pregnancy because she is carrying a non-viable fetus

‘I was told that among them there were alternatives to abortion, parenthood or adoption, as if giving birth to a healthy baby would be an option for me. It’s not.’

“I don’t think people have to justify their abortions, but I choose to talk about why I made this decision because I want us to have meaningful conversations about the reality of how the work we do in this body affects people.” in the real world,” she said.

Burch did not share any further details about the fetus’ health problems, but indicated that the fetus would not survive if she managed to carry it to term.

Following the Roe v. Wade case in 2022, Arizona passed the law banning abortions within the last 15 weeks and including a penalty for doctors who violate the law as they would face misdemeanor charges and possible license suspension, reported the Arizona mirror.

Burch said she was forced to undergo an unnecessary transvaginal ultrasound, had to consider parenthood or adoption and had to wait less than 24 hours before terminating her pregnancy because it was a requirement of state law.

The rules are intended to make pregnant women feel guilty so they change their minds about having an abortion, critics say.

The state senator revealed details of her fertility journey, including an experience she had two years ago when she learned that a pregnancy she wanted to have would result in a miscarriage and that she would have to have an abortion.

She said that when she miscarried the night before her scheduled abortion, she was denied the procedure at the hospital because, although she was bleeding, she was not exsanguinated and therefore was not in critical condition.

“There is no one-size-fits-all script for people seeking abortion care, and the Legislature has no right to assign one,” Burch said on the Senate floor.

“Physicians and patients should make those decisions, not lawmakers who don’t have to suffer the consequences themselves.”

“All the Legislature has done is foster distrust and confusion in the relationship between patients and health care providers and people who are vulnerable enough,” she said.

Burch said she was forced to undergo an unnecessary transvaginal ultrasound, had to consider parenthood or adoption and had to wait less than 24 hours before terminating her pregnancy because it was a requirement of state law.

Burch urged her colleagues to change the law and expressed support for the ballot initiative that enshrined the right to abortion

As the Arizona Supreme Court hears arguments on whether to reinstate the nearly 160-year-old abortion ban, abortion rights advocates want to put a constitutional amendment on the November ballot that would enshrine the right to an abortion as long as its viability is guaranteed, or 24 weeks of abortion . pregnancy.

The group leading this effort, Arizona for Abortion Access, must collect nearly 384,000 valid signatures by July 3 to get it on the ballot.

In January, the group said it had collected 250,000 signatures NBC News.

Burch urged her colleagues to change the law and voiced her support for the ballot initiative establishing the right to abortion.

“I call on this Legislature to pass laws that ensure every Arizonan has the opportunity to make decisions that are right for them,” Burch said.

“Our decision-making must be based on expert testimony and consensus from both the medical community and voters, and free from political posturing and partisan bias. But that’s not what I see happening. “So I really hope that Arizonans get the opportunity to have their say on abortion during the November ballot.”