by Laura Pedersen | May 17, 2025 | Opinion
By Laura Pedersen RN, MSN |
No one wants to see expectant mothers suffer, physically or mentally—no one but the Big Abortion industry that is. Yet pro-abortion activists in Arizona repeatedly insist that abortion behemoth Planned Parenthood and its affiliates have women’s best interests in mind, when evidence reveals that nothing is further from the truth.
Activists at Reproductive Freedom for All (formerly NARAL) recently launched political ads against Rep. Juan Ciscomani (AZ-06), misinforming viewers that if Republicans cast a vote to defund Planned Parenthood, they will inflict harm on women and deny them essential health care. Reasonable constituents of Ciscomani’s district, myself included, know full well that these ads are nothing but a fearmongering attempt and an effort to keep Planned Parenthood open for business as usual – to the detriment of women and their vulnerable children in the womb.
It’s a well-documented fact that Planned Parenthood does little to meaningfully move the needle on women’s healthcare in America, and worse, causes mothers unnecessary pain and turmoil during their most vulnerable moments in life. Even the abortion-promoting New York Times recently admitted there is a problem with care received at these abortion facilities when it published a February 2025 report covering horrific examples of low-quality patient treatments. One child, the report said, was stillborn after a Planned Parenthood improperly implanted an IUD in the mother’s uterus. In Missouri, a Planned Parenthood was shut down in 2024 for using moldy abortion equipment on women. Likewise, in Colorado, an 18-year-old girl recently died from an abortion Planned Parenthood conducted at 22 weeks. Yet despite these tragedies, Reproductive Freedom for All continues to sing Planned Parenthood’s praises.
While Planned Parenthood’s competency in performing safe abortions decreases, the services they offer women beyond abortion – such as breast exams and cancer screenings – are also on the decline. Contrary to what the recent ads against Ciscomani claim, Planned Parenthood’s cancer screenings, breast exams, and pap smears have dropped by more than 70 percent in the time that taxpayer funding for the abortion giant has increased by 43 percent. Even contraception services are down nearly 40 percent and mammograms aren’t offered at all, clearly indicating that Planned Parenthood isn’t a health care provider, but a soulless abortion business that cares little if anything about the women who walk through the doors of its 600 facilities across the nation.
Planned Parenthood’s own reporting reveals that they are overwhelmingly preoccupied with destroying life instead of helping mothers and their children thrive. Prenatal services account for only 1.6 percent of services offered at their facilities, miscarriage care accounts for 0.9 percent, and adoption referrals 0.4 percent. They perform 228 abortions for every one adoption referral, and more than 97 percent of pregnant women who walk through their doors end up getting abortions.
From a political point of view, it’s no surprise that Reproductive Freedom for All – an organization hell bent on using millions of dollars to put progressive policies into law – would back Planned Parenthood, itself known for engaging heavily in political spending to help pro-abortion Democrats win elections. These activists’ political leanings, however, are stopping them from advancing real medical progress for women’s health.
What political activists and their television ads don’t want you to know is that if Planned Parenthood is defunded, all women – especially Medicaid recipients – will be left with safer, higher quality care at federally funded community health centers which offer a full range of women’s health services, including OB/GYN care, well-woman care, and family planning. They also outnumber Planned Parenthoods 15 to one. If Americans are no longer forced to subsidize the Big Abortion industry, pregnant women will receive true, comprehensive health care, even in rural areas.
Far from cutting benefits to women, defunding Planned Parenthood would save them from extreme anguish at the hands of abortionists everywhere. It’s with great concern for the women of Arizona and all expectant mothers that I urge my fellow residents to challenge the political talking points presented on screen and stand behind Rep. Ciscomani and against the Big Abortion lobby.
Laura Pedersen RN, MSN is a Tucson, Arizona, resident and pro-life advocate.
by Ed Steele | Dec 6, 2023 | Opinion
By Ed Steele |
The abortion lobby has made it clear. It wants to erase every pro-life law and enshrine abortion up to birth in the Arizona Constitution. If it’s successful, that would mean:
- No more requirement to inform women of the risks of abortion.
- No requirement to inform women of options other than abortion.
- No requirement for ultrasounds prior to abortion.
- No 24-hour waiting period.
- No requirement for parental consent for minors.
That last one is particularly shocking. It would open the door for sex traffickers, sex abusers, and other sexual predators to force women and underage girls into abortions. This is the terrifying reality that could be facing our state.
Right now in Arizona, the abortion industry is hard at work to collect the 383,923 valid signatures they need to put this constitutional amendment on the General Election ballot next November. While this may seem like a daunting task, they are well organized and well-funded, receiving support from the likes of Planned Parenthood, the ACLU, and NARAL. Perhaps you’ve seen them at libraries, coffee shops, or the dollar stores asking you to help “protect women’s healthcare” or “support the right for women to make their own decisions about healthcare.” But here’s an interesting fact. The initiative never mentions “women.” It only mentions “pregnant individuals.” So, what are they really pushing?
It’s important to make the distinction between the old abortion debate that’s been raging for the last 50 years and the fight we face today. In the old abortion debate, everyone had a place on the spectrum regarding when it’s ok to take the life of a baby during pregnancy—from the moment of conception all the way up to birth. Both sides were in a constant battle to determine the inflection point where their side had the most support.
But this fight is completely different.
In this ballot measure, Arizona for Abortion Access (the group seeking this constitutional amendment) has drawn the inflection point for allowable abortion right up to the child’s birthday. That means anyone who signs this measure is actively supporting the end of a baby’s life right up until the moment that he or she is born.
Based on polls across the country, a vast majority of the population is not okay with abortion up to the moment of birth and should reject this initiative. But that’s why it’s so important that the general public know what they are being asked to sign.
This initiative is written with intentionally vague language which will allow “healthcare professionals” to use loopholes to perform abortions right up to the moment of birth. But don’t just take it from me. Look at the initiative petition itself, which says that the state cannot act in a manner that:
DENIES, RESTRICTS OR INTERFERES WITH AN ABORTION AFTER FETAL VIABILITY THAT, IN THE GOOD FAITH JUDGMENT OF A TREATING HEALTH CARE PROFESSIONAL, IS NECESSARY TO PROTECT THE LIFE OR PHYSICAL OR MENTAL HEALTH OF THE PREGNANT INDIVIDUAL.
“…in the good faith judgment of a treating healthcare professional…”? Who gets to define “healthcare professional”?
“…is necessary to protect physical or mental health…”? What about pregnancy could be so dangerous to a mother’s mental health that it could be used to justify abortion up to birth? You can see where this is heading…
There once was a time when Planned Parenthood and the abortion lobby repeated the slogan that “abortion should be safe, legal, and rare”? But this is where they were always heading—abortion up to birth and for practically any reason.
Arizona, it’s time to wake up and show up. We need to educate our friends and relatives with the truth about the abortion initiative petition. We need to wake up our church communities, so that our congregations can be properly informed. And we need to stand up anytime we see abortion activists collecting signatures for this petition to let potential signers know that their signature could allow abortion up to birth. (To get an information packet about this effort to share with your pastor, you can email AZdeclinetosign@gmail.com.)
This is literally a matter of life and death. Which side will you choose?
Ed Steele is a husband, father, grandfather, and Mesa resident who is helping to lead the Decline to Sign – AZ Abortion Act Movement. You can find out the latest by following this movement on X (Twitter) @declineabortion.
by Corinne Murdock | Aug 24, 2023 | News
By Corinne Murdock |
The 2024 election may constitute a literal decision between life and death for Arizona voters: whether or not mothers have the right to kill their unborn children up to birth at any time, for any reason.
Earlier this month, a pro-abortion group filed a ballot initiative to establish a constitutional right to abortion up until birth: the Arizona Abortion Access Act. The act would prohibit the denial, restriction, or intervention with an abortion even after fetal viability if the health care professional determines that the unborn child presents a threat to either the mental or physical health of the mother.
The act further defined fetal viability as sustained survival outside the womb without the application of “extraordinary medical measures.”
The eponymous group behind the act, Arizona for Abortion Access (AAA) is led by top leaders in the pro-abortion movement, including former Planned Parenthood Advocates of Arizona Chairwoman Chris Love, and NARAL Arizona senior advisor Jodi Liggett.
AAA also has the backing of the ACLU of Arizona, Affirm Sexual and Reproductive Health, Arizona List, and Healthcare Rising Arizona. The organization discloses that 25 percent of their funding comes from out-of-state contributors. The secretary of state’s campaign finance database doesn’t reflect any filings as of this report (the organization registered with the secretary of state’s office last week).
Of note: AAA’s treasurer is Dacey Montoya. AZ Free News has reported extensively on Montoya’s role as a key player in the Democratic dark money network. Montoya’s political action committee collected $27 million from the fallen crypto giant of FTX, Sam Bankman-Fried, and has collected over $1 million from Sen. Mark Kelly and Gov. Katie Hobbs.
The chair, Candace Lew, is a Tempe-based abortionist.
In a press release, the Center for Arizona Policy (CAP) stated that the act would establish an “abortion on demand” standard. CAP further criticized the measure for claiming to incorporate limitations, when the language holds that no limitations truly exist beyond those imposed by the abortionist.
“[I]nstead of owning up to the radical realities in clear language, the measure deceitfully first includes the limitation of viability, then nullifies it with broad, nearly universal exemptions that allow stress to be reason enough for a late term abortion,” said CAP.
Rep. Alex Kolodin (R-LD03) argued that the ballot measure language misleads voters to believe that it allows for limitations on late-term abortions.
With news of the ballot measure’s filing, Gov. Katie Hobbs issued support for unfettered abortion access.
The group needs just over 383,900 signatures to make the ballot.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
Page 1 of 11
