Senate Democrats Join Calls for Governor to Veto Dangerous Anti-Abortion Bill

Senate Democrats released the following statement after SB1457 was transmitted to the Governor's desk for him to either sign into law or veto.

"Today the Arizona Senate sent to Governor Ducey's desk a dangerous and overly broad anti-abortion bill that will criminalize pregnant people who seek abortions and the doctors and medical staff who provide them with reproductive care. SB1457 criminalizes doctors who provide abortion care and uses people with disabilities as a scapegoat for anti-abortion rhetoric while threatening critical medical care procedures.

Every person in Arizona should have access to safe and affordable reproductive healthcare without intrusion from the government. Further, this bill lacks support from Arizonans. A Public Policy Polling survey finds that a strong majority-76% of Arizona voters believe that abortion should be legal, and that the government should not prevent a person from making that decision. This bill will endanger the lives of women and won't reduce the need for abortions. SB1457 is a dangerous bill that must be vetoed."

Arizona Senate Democrats Condemn Ongoing GOP Fraudit Sham

"This 'fraudit' sham has made Arizona into a national laughingstock once again and in the interest of democracy and election integrity it should be ended immediately. Republicans can't accept they lost the election and are riling up their base to almost feverish levels that could have dangerous consequences. Maricopa County performed multiple audits of its election as required under state law. More than 2 million lawful ballots were cast in Maricopa County and there has been zero evidence of fraud or misconduct. No matter how you voted, this election was administered with integrity, accuracy and transparency. Despite this, Republicans have already said they plan to use the audit to pass more voting rights restrictions on Arizona voters. Meanwhile, Legislative Democrats introduced numerous bills this session to expand voting access and all of those bills were blocked by Republicans. This audit is no more than a temper tantrum from those still upset that they lost the election and it is deeply damaging to the integrity of our elections and our democracy."

Arizona Latino Caucus Urges Governor Ducey to Stop Playing Political Games with the Border

The Arizona Latino Legislative Caucus released the following statement on Governor’s Ducey spending $25 million in Arizona taxpayer money to send the National Guard to the Arizona border.

“Legislative Republicans and Governor Ducey are skipping work today for a photo-op at the border in a transparent act of political theatre that will cost Arizona taxpayers $25 million. Meanwhile Arizonans continue to be impacted by COVID pandemic, a real crisis that Republicans still refuse to adequately address. Yesterday was the 100th day of Session and Republicans have done no work on passing the people’s budget to get resources to Arizona families and businesses struggling through the pandemic. From day one, the Biden Administration has been deeply engaged in monitoring the border and marshaling all resources of the government to find compassionate and fair solutions to help migrants at our border.

America’s immigration system was decimated over the last four years with children cruelly separated from their parents. There were insufficient policies, procedures, and training in place to administer our immigration laws. The prior administration’s border policies were chaotic, cruel, and ineffective. Now the Biden Administration is working urgently to move unaccompanied minors to HHS facilities and finally with family or sponsors. On his first day in office, President Biden sent the U.S. Citizenship Act to Congress to provide a path to citizenship, crack down on smugglers and traffickers and provide more funding and resources for immigration courts to clear the asylum backlog. The Biden Admin is working closely with Congress to identify long term reforms and solutions. This is the type of action that will address the issues at our border. Taking on the difficult challenge of building a fair, functional, and humane system will take time. After four years of destruction, change doesn't happen with the flip of a switch,and we encourage Governor Ducey to work with the Biden Administration on real solutions and not photo-ops.”