File Photo By Vandana Ravikumar/Cronkite News
By Patty Cervantez, Graham County Democratic Party Chair
Two years ago this week, women across America lost the fundamental right to control their own bodies.
For women in Arizona, this was especially devastating because it got the ball rolling on enforcing an 1864 law that banned abortion in almost every situation.
I will never forget how Republicans were so quick to celebrate a day that was outright awful for women like me. Women who want politicians far away from our doctors’ offices.
Kari Lake was among the worst. She said she couldn’t stop smiling when the Dobbs ruling came out.
On a day when Americans across the country were reeling, because a right their mothers and grandmothers fought for had been stripped away in an instant, Kari Lake was smiling.
Kari called the 1864 ban out by statute number and she called it a great law. Then, she complained when Democrats stopped it from being enforced in Arizona.
If Kari Lake makes it into office, Arizonans wouldn’t be able to get the health care they need, when they need it, and survivors of rape or incest would again be forced into something they don’t want – dangerous, unregulated, back ally abortions that put them at risk of death.
The reality is that banning safe and legal abortions does not mean fewer abortions, it means more unregulated abortions, more doctors in jail, and more women in caskets.
Patty Cervantez serves as the Graham County Democratic Party Chair
The opinions expressed in this editorial are those of the author.