Following the US Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe v. Wade in 2022, Arizona contended with a Civil War-era abortion ban—until voters in November favored Prop 139.
Planned Parenthood will soon offer abortion up to the point of fetal viability, and prepares to continue providing health care to women as anti-abortion politicians take office in 2025.
Dr. Jill Gibson, Chief Medical Director at Planned Parenthood Arizona, said the organization is working to expand their abortion programs, according to the will of the voters.
“We are actively working to operationalize and expand our abortion program to the limits that are now set,” Gibson said.
Arizona’s abortion law has been in flux for years, which has had providers scrambling to serve patients while not always knowing exactly what they could and could not do under the law.
“In that two-and-a-half years, there’s just been periods of complete chaos and lack of clarity and stability to provide abortion care” Gibson said.
Following the US Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe v. Wade in 2022, Arizona contended with a Civil War-era abortion ban—until voters in November favored Proposition 139, which amended the state constitution to guarantee the right to an abortion until the point of fetal viability.
READ MORE: This Arizona abortion clinic faced a total ban just 8 months ago. Today, there’s progress
For abortion clinics, making a change after an abortion ban is not as easy as flipping a switch. Clinics need to take steps to make it happen. Planned Parenthood Arizona has been working on those steps, and is now almost prepared to serve in its expanded capacity.
Gibson said appointments for abortions past the 15-week mark could become available in the very near future. Planned Parenthood Arizona is still training staff to the new standards and buying the necessary equipment.
“We can now put [the chaos] behind us and just work forward toward onboarding, training staff, buying new equipment, and getting everything ready so that we’re in this now for the long haul,” Gibson said.
She said that even though Republicans both federally and locally have voiced their opinions on abortion rights for women, she isn’t afraid because a massive majority of Arizonans came out to support the right to have an abortion in the state.
“We take it seriously because we’ve seen that they have a strong anti-abortion agenda, and we’ve seen that they’ve enacted and done what they’ve said they want to do,” Gibson said, adding: “The strength that I find is really in the numbers of people who supported the ballot initiative. We have the popular opinion on our side. I’m really hopeful that this ballot initiative is going to allow us to reinstate some dignity into abortion services.”
Planned Parenthood Arizona doesn’t just exist to offer abortions, though they do offer that service to those who want or need it. The clinic provides health care to everyone.
