Arizona – Groups representing leading health care professionals providing care for people in need of ob-gyn care in Arizona and across the nation filed a friend of the court brief in the Arizona Supreme Court, asking the Court to reject an attempt by ideologues to stop the Arizona Abortion Access Act, which would create a right to abortion, from appearing on ballots in November. The case is Arizona Right to Life v Fontes et al. The professional societies that submitted the brief are the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine, and the Society of Family Planning. They are represented by Democracy Forward. 

In the case, Arizona Right to Life, an anti-abortion group that is questioning the accuracy of the official description used to qualify the Arizona Abortion Access Act for consideration by voters is appealing to the Arizona Supreme Court to reject the ballot measure. The brief on behalf of health care professionals explains the inaccurate, harmful nature of Arizona Right to Life’s assertions about health care professionals who provide abortions and underscores the devastation that Arizonans would experience should they succeed in their goal of banning abortion. As the brief states, Arizona Right to Life’s “arguments not only defy common sense and medical realities but also stigmatize abortion care and the clinicians who provide it, to the detriment of women, families, and communities in this state.” 

“In our democracy, knowledge is power. Yet, across the country – from Florida to Ohio to Arizona – there has been a movement by far-right extremists working to warp the truth and to manipulate the will of voters by trying to keep measures enshrining a right to abortion off the ballot,” said Skye Perryman, President and CEO of Democracy Forward. “We are not going to allow extremists to demonize health care professionals and the life-saving care they perform with blanket assertions, ungrounded in the realities of medical care and ethics, without data and without evidence.” 

Democracy Forward also filed on behalf of ACOG in response to a similar effort in Florida, where the state’s Attorney General attempted to misuse ACOG guidance to prevent a ballot initiative, the “Amendment to Limit Government Interference with Abortion,” from being considered by voters. The Florida Supreme Court rejected that attempt, ruling in favor of ACOG’s position. 

For more information, please visit www.democracyforward.org. 

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