Proposition 139: The Ballot Measure that Could Protect Abortion in Arizona

On election day, Arizonans can vote to amend the state Constitution to establish the fundamental right to abortion. This amendment, which would undoubtedly increase access to abortion care, is especially salient given that Arizona has become an abortion access battleground state since the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision that overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022. Alex Gomez, Executive Director of LUCHA – Living United for Change in Arizona, sits down to talk to us about Proposition 139 and what its possible passage may mean for the future of abortion in the state.

Proposition 139, the Right to Abortion Initiative, would enshrine abortion access into the state constitution and conclude that Arizona may not interfere with an individual’s pregnancy before the point of fetal viability (the measure also protects access past fetal viability in cases of protecting the life, physical, or mental health of the pregnant person). In addition, the ballot initiative would prevent punitive laws aimed at people accessing abortion, or those assisting them.

Links from this episode

LUCHA – Living United for Change in Arizona
LUCHA on Facebook
LUCHA on X

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Transcript

Jennie: Welcome to rePROs Fight Back, a podcast on all things related to sexual and reproductive health, rights, and justice. [music intro]

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Jennie: Hi rePROs. How's everybody doing? I'm your host Jennie Wetter, and my pronouns are she/her. So y'all, I'm recording this kind of far in advance because I, as I'm recording it, getting ready to leave to go to Minnesota for the American Public Health Association Conference. And actually I'm going a couple days early because my mom is flying up or flying, she's driving up to come visit. So, I'm gonna spend a couple days with my mom, no idea what we're gonna do, but I'm sure it will just be nice to spend some time with her. And then I'm gonna have a booth at the conference. So I'm so excited to get to talk to all the wonderful people who will be at APHA all about the podcast and talk about our 50 state report card on reproductive health and rights, sexual and reproductive health and rights. I'm actually doing a presentation on it, but you guys are hearing, when you're hearing this, I probably am just wrapping up my presentation if you're listening right when it comes out. So yeah, talking about the report card, talking about the podcast, very excited. So, if you're at APHA, make sure you swing by the booth. We're gonna have all of our super fun stickers, and our abortion is a human right, not a dirty word, bags. So make sure to come and get those. If you are not at a PHA and would like stickers and bags, as always, if you donate to us for $25, you get all of the stickers we have that were really cute and designed by Liberal Jane. And if you donate $50, you get all of the amazing stickers. And our "abortion is a human right, not a dirty word" bag. So, if you wanna make sure you get them, donate now. So I'm really looking forward to it. Mostly to get to spend some time with my mom. I haven't seen her since August, so it'll be nice to spend some time with her in Minneapolis. And I'm looking forward to, like, Midwestern fall sounds kind of fun. And maybe all the cheese curds I can eat also sounds really delightful. That's my plan anyway, is to just eat so many cheese curds. I know it's the little things y'all. It's the little things. And then I'll get back and it's gonna be Halloween, and I am still in my spooky season vibes. I am still reading all of the witchy romance and all of the, like, scary books. So, I am living my best spooky season life. I kind of think those are all of my major things. Again, it's hard to be recording so far in advance. There are maybe new things that are going on, but, hmm. Let's see here. I think maybe we'll just turn to this week's interview. I'm very excited, you know, abortion's on the ballot in 10 states, and unfortunately we are not gonna be able to cover all of the places that abortion is on the ballot. We did an episode earlier this year about Florida's ballot initiative, so we'll make sure to include that in our show notes so you can learn more if you're in Florida about the ballot initiative. But today's episode we are gonna be focusing on Arizona and Arizona's a ballot initiative, and I am so excited to have Alex Gomez with LUCHA on to talk to us about the Arizona ballot initiative that would enshrine abortion rights up until viability. So, very excited to hear about this. Can't wait. Let's go to my interview with Alex.

Jennie: Hi, Alex. Thank you so much for being here today.

Alex: Thank you so much for having me. I'm so excited.

Jennie: I'm so excited to talk about everything that's happening in Arizona. Before we, before we dig in, do you wanna take a moment and introduce yourself and include your pronouns?

Alex: Yes. My name is Alejandra Gomez, but I go by Alex and my pronouns are she/her/ella. I am the executive director of Living United for Change in Arizona, LUCHA, our C4 organization. And our C3 is Arizona Center for Empowerment. And I'll share what brought me to organizing and what brought me to this work is it really started with really seeing how my father navigated the world as an undocumented person and how complicated his experience was, both as a worker, as a father, and the decisions that he had to make in order to feel safety and security in a moment in time in California where safety and security didn't feel like it was afforded to him. And so, because of the anti-immigrant sentiment in 1994 in California, he decided that we were gonna move to Arizona so that he would not be detained or deported. And so we did that. I was 10 at the time, we did find safety and he was able to establish residency. And so this, he's a voter this year, and he's gonna be voting for reproductive health access and abortion access, which I'm really proud of him. But one of the very clear things, you know, we moved to Arizona as a child, and when the recession happened in 2008, I was already in the workforce and my father worked construction, he lost his job and I was pregnant. And at the time, the decision was whether I continued to be able to help my family because at the, when he lost his job, I was supporting them with being able to pay the mortgage so my father wouldn't lose his, his home and my mom also. And I think back now at the decisions that we have to make as women, as workers, and looking back then, as I made a choice for myself, but also for my family to be able to continue to be the breadwinner in a really hard time in the economy. And for the first time, you know, this year I was able to share that story with my mom. She was fully supportive. And so, what the ballot measure here in Arizona in the fall of Roe v Wade has both taught me and my community, is that every woman has a story, every family has a story, and we can feel empowered and in our safety to be able to share these stories. And our communities resonate with access to reproductive healthcare and being able to make a decision about your body. And so, it's been a really powerful year to be able to have this experience with my own family, share my story publicly.

Jennie: Oh, Alex, thank you so much for sharing your story. One of my favorite episodes we do every year is actually have people tell their story of how they got into this work. And funnily enough, the week after this airs, the annual episode is gonna come out. So, like, magical timing of sharing your story in your intro.

Alex: Awesome.

Jennie: Okay. So before we get into the ballot initiative, maybe let's talk a little bit about: what does abortion access look like in Arizona right now?

Alex: Yeah, you know, the year started incredibly complicated where our Arizona state legislature, you know, in 2010, in the midst of all of the fight back in Arizona with the anti-immigrant law, we were at a Republican supermajority. And so, now we are at a one vote difference in both chambers. And what that has meant for our legislature is that they feel they're losing power. And so, knowing that there was gonna be an abortion access ballot measure that we were gonna fight for in this election, the legislature kicked off the year with bringing back a ban from 1864. What's really important to note about the 1864 ban is the date also is connected to when Abraham Lincoln abolished slavery. And so, Arizona at that time was so in opposition of freedom of choice, freedom of women, freedom of people of color, that they enacted this 1864 ban on abortions because they wanted to continue being able to control women in particular women of color to continue the lineage of indentured servitude. And so now fast forward to 2024, here we have the legislature demonstrating to us that they actually do wanna take us back. So, they not only wanna control the number of weeks that women are able to have an abortion, but they wanted to ban abortions altogether. And so, an incredible coalition along with incredible legislators like Stephanie Stahl Hamilton and Anna Hernandez, and so many more fought the good fight in a Republican controlled legislature and were able to defeat this bill. And so not only were we able to defeat the bill, but then we were able to have a ballot referral onto, now we were able to actually get this ballot measure in full gear because the legislature was fighting us being able to actually have a ballot measure altogether. And so, what we are fighting for currently is to be able to have access to have abortions up to viability. And so, what's really important about this is that it's a woman's decision that, you know, doctors can have an opinion, but really this is a decision that is between the woman, if her partner is involved, the partner, but it's such a personal decision and no one else should be involved, not politicians that are trying to bring back bans from 1864 just to control power. And so, what we have seen also in Arizona is from all of this, the Republican legislators are working so hard to be able to move into effect something that we call the woodwork. So, having everyone come out to turn out from their base by utilizing a number of really terrible ballot measures in this election. So, we have a two page ballot this year, so we're working really hard to get out the information about the ballot measure, but what we're also doing is working incredibly hard to make sure that people vote all the way down the ballot.

Jennie: Okay. So I'm really excited about one abortion being on the ballot anywhere because we have seen that when abortion rights are put to vote, like they have won everywhere since the Dobbs decision. So, it's really exciting to see abortion beyond the ballot in 10 states. Tell us a little bit about what Arizona's abortion ballot measure is.

Alex: Yeah, we are so excited because we have been working hard to craft a piece of policy that allows women to now be able to have an abortion and have access to medical care, but also be able to have an abortion up to viability. So, in Arizona, up to 70%, what we have done from our research is: up to 70% of Latinos support the abortion access. And broader community, we have just seen an overwhelming amount of support what this ballot measure, not only in terms of the policy aspects, but the ballot measure has also created ripple effects on women coming out and sharing their story, feeling like they have someone that is listening and someone that actually cares about the fact that they have experienced needing to have an abortion for a myriad of reasons or reproductive healthcare for many reasons also. And prior to this, you know, often, I don't think we were having this conversation out loud and now we have had so many events through the 139 campaign Arizona Abortion Access For All, where women are coming out and thanking the campaign for creating spaces where women can share their stories. And so, that's been the most powerful piece of the ballot measure is that we have a really powerful speakers bureau. There's an incredible coalition of so many organizations, and I will even share LUCHA's mission is—it is not a leader in reproductive health access, but because this was so important to our members, our members urged us to get involved. But here we are also sharing stories because stories are power and women being able to feel like they have a safe space to be able to come out and share their story and how they were impacted. I mean, we have seen everything from not having adequate access when there is a family that is about to have a miscarriage or women not feeling safe to be able to share that they needed to have an abortion. It has just been both incredible and transformative for myself to have a space to be able to share those stories. But what we're also seeing across the country is that this issue moves voters. Voters care about this. It's won in Ohio in an off year election cycle. In Arizona, it's going to be the top vote getter. And not only that, but there are so many fights that we have ahead of us to continue ensuring that women have access to reproductive healthcare, making it more affordable, making sure that insurance companies cover it, getting rid of wait times, right? There's so much more that we need to fight. And I think now we have built a base of women and allies that want to fight for this issue.

Jennie: Storytelling is so powerful, you know, it's really easy for the other side to create these false narratives and, you know, these boogeymen of what abortions are and really stigmatize it. But having people powerfully go out and tell their stories really can change hearts and minds. I always find it so powerful when people can share their story, but also at the same time feeling like, God, women have to keep digging out their trauma and like putting it out there for you, for you to understand that this is a human rights violation to prevent them from accessing reproductive healthcare. So, like, I definitely feel both at the same time, but always so grateful for the people who are able to and want to share their stories because it really can move people.

Alex: Yeah, it's been incredible to see that there is a catharsis that is happening. There's a real grief and sometimes there is, like, a real power also in people finding their voice and sharing their story about how they decided for their lives. And so to your point, it's been a myriad of all of the emotions. We just had also an event with the Green Wave movement and they were sharing with us how this is impacting women in Latin America. And to be able to share stories from across the globe now, right? Like international on how reproductive healthcare and abortion access is critical for women to be able to thrive and to have agency over their lives and how in some countries, often we see that it is...in the United States, when I was actually coming back from Colombia after a conference and I was on the plane when the announcement was made that Roe v Wade had, you know, been stripped from us. And I just remember being in tears. And at that point, I had not shared myself that I had had an abortion. And in that moment, I felt this incredible sense of responsibility that this story is important to tell and it's my decision and no one else's business. And now politicians are trying to get in the way of that. And when we now brought the abortion access ballot measure here in Arizona and to see, I will tell you that the campaign is largely run by badass women. So, it has also been incredible to see all of the leadership and the wisdom from women that have been leading in the reproductive health space for years. And to be able to bring a coalition together of both stakeholders from reproductive health care and partners that haven't been in this space and naming that this is our issue and that Arizona's going to deliver on it. And what we have found here in Arizona that's so critical along with this ballot measure is that issues are the top vote getters in Arizona and our communities wanna talk about the kitchen table issues. And now abortion is part of the kitchen table issue. It's this central piece of women's agency that women wanna talk about. Jennie: That's so amazing. So let's just, yeah, let's be really clear. I think a lot of states try to create confusion over how you should vote on ballot initiatives. How should people vote to protect reproductive rights on this Arizona ballot initiative?

Alex: Yes, Arizonans are gonna have the opportunity to vote for the Arizona abortion access ballot measure. And that is Prop 139 on the second page of your ballot. So, it's important to go all the way down the ballot. And in this case, it's important to vote on the two pages of a ballot that we have. And right now you also have access to be able to vote from home. Ballots dropped on the ninth and they should be on your kitchen table and in the mail. So, don't just go for the presidential, don't just go for the Senate vote, but also go to the back of the page and find Prop 139 and circle in the little bubble. That's how you fill it in for first time voters, all you have to do is fill in the bubble. If you are mailing in your ballot, don't forget to sign the envelope once you have sealed it and then you can just pop it back in the mail and it will be received. For folks that are going to wait until November 5th, which I do not recommend that you do, if you have your ballot, send it in as soon as possible over the mail, but you have access to voter guides. Many of the grassroots organizations, including the ballot measure, are sending voter guides to support you because it is such a long ballot. Make sure that you get your hands on one, either digitally or a hard copy. And you take that with you. You are able to bring a voter guide with you to support you through the voting process at the polls and go down, look for 139 and vote yes. Because that yes is a vote for your future, your reproductive health access to abortion. And it also is making sure that you are making your voice heard and that we are standing with a community of voters where Arizona access to abortion is going to be the top vote getter in this election.

Jennie: So, we also know that change doesn't end on election day and that there's often more work to be done. So, what's next after the ballot initiative?

Alex: Yeah, so after the ballot initiative, in Arizona, we are very optimistic that we are going to have a majority now in the Senate and we at least will have a tie in the house. That doesn't guarantee all of the victories. But what it does do is guarantee that we will have a legislature that will be more apt to listening to our communities. And what I would love to leave Arizonans with and voters with both in Arizona and across the country, is that voting is the first step. There is advocacy work that continues after. So, if you believe that women should not have to wait a period of discernment on whether you want to have the abortion or not, or if you want to have that eliminated, then you should come and advocate at the legislature with us. If you believe that health insurance should cover access to abortion and other types of reproductive healthcare, then we need you at the legislature with us. If the price of an abortion also is difficult, then you should be at the legislature with us because the most important piece is you now joining us in this long arc fight. This is the first step and we have so much more to go to ensure that we not only enshrine reproductive health access and abortion care, but that we are fighting for women's rights for the long term. And there's so many other issues that we need to be thinking about when it comes to women and the election is one key part, but our advocacy is the core piece.

Jennie: So Alex, I always end with what can our audience do to get involved, but I think you already hit a lot of that. Do you have anything you would like to add?

Alex: Yeah, join a local organization, check out LUCHA at luchaaz.org, Planned Parenthood, Reproductive Healthcare Access for All, Arizona List, all of these organizations have been here doing work on the ground and will be at the legislature. And we'll be celebrating when we win on election night. So, make sure that you one, join the party, the Victory Party, but two, that you also join us at the legislature next year and for the fight to come.

Jennie: Alex, thank you so much for being here. I had so much fun talking to you and I'll be sending all of my positive thoughts to Arizona for the ballot initiative.

Alex: Oh my gosh, thank you so much. This is amazing. Thank you so much for lifting up Arizona’s story and standing with Arizona's women. Thank you.

Jennie: Okay, y'all, I hope you enjoyed my conversation with Alex. It was great to hear about what is going on in Arizona and thinking about the work ahead after this ballot initiative passes. We know that abortion bans are always terrible, so we wanna, you know, continue expanding access. So, it's so exciting to hear how they are thinking through the ways that they can continue to expand access after the ballot initiative has passed. So stay tuned. Think positive thoughts for all of the 10 states where abortion is on the ballot. And I will see everybody next week for our special election episode where we are going to do a sexual and reproductive health rights and justice hero origin story episode because, you know, it's election day. Y'all, we need something fun. So, we're gonna have a fun episode that I can't wait to share with y'all. Okay. See you all next week for that. [music outro] If you have any questions, comments, or topics you would like us to cover, always feel free to shoot me an email. You can reach me at jennie@reprosfightback.com or you can find us on social media. We're at @RePROsFightBack on Facebook and Twitter or @reprosfb on Instagram. If you love our podcast and wanna make sure more people find it, take the time to rate and review us on your favorite podcast platform. Or if you wanna make sure to support the podcast, you can also donate on our website at reprosfightback.com. Thanks all!