State Senator Eva Burch (D-District 9) has informed her colleagues that she intends to get an abortion while the Arizona Supreme Court considers the constitutionality of a ban on the procedure that dates back to 1864. “I don’t think people should have to justify their abortions, but I’m choosing to talk about why I made this decision,” Burch said during a special session of the Senate on Monday. “I want us to be able to have meaningful conversations about the reality of how the work we do in this body impacts people in the real world.”
The decision-makers in healthcare, according to Burch, should be doctors and patients, not lawmakers who “don’t have to suffer through the consequences themselves.” Burch revealed that she became pregnant “against all odds” a few weeks ago. The reelection candidate from west Mesa, who is a mother of two living children, has spoken about her “rough journey” with fertility.
According to her, she had her first miscarriage thirteen years ago, was pregnant multiple times, and two years ago, while running for senate, she killed a nonviable fetus.Now Burch has announced that she has scheduled an abortion since her current pregnancy is not viable and is not progressing.
The laws of the state, according to Burch, have “interfered” with her choice. According to her, she was given “factually false” information regarding alternatives and was compelled by Arizona law to undergo a “invasive” transvaginal ultrasound, even though her doctor did not recommend it.
Burch was elected to her seat as a senator for the first time from Mesa in 2022. After completing her nursing degree at Pima Medical Institute in 2012, Burch began working as an emergency nurse. A reelection is being sought by her. A statute that former Arizona governor Doug Ducey signed into law in 2022 places a prohibition on abortion in the state for the first fifteen weeks of gestation. A total prohibition of abortion dating back to the territorial era of 1864 is also being considered by the state justice.
The majority of abortions in Arizona occur within the first fifteen weeks of gestation, according to the most recent data from the Arizona State Health Department in 2021. Using a combination of three medications to terminate a pregnancy, nearly half of abortions in Arizona were non-surgical, according to the data.
