As a pediatrician and family physician, we’ve gotten to know many patients of all ages, and cared for their individual medical circumstances, including pregnancies that are unique to each patient.

We’ve encountered many cases in which an abortion was the right decision for a patient.  We have cared for teens unprepared to have children and young women who were victims of rape. These patients should have the freedom to decide what’s right for them. With the Arizona Abortion Access Act, they will have that freedom.

By passing this ballot measure, we can ensure that patients can get an abortion if they choose and that politicians won’t be able to force patients to be pregnant. 

Voting yes on the Arizona Abortion Access Act restores the protections Arizonans had under Roe v. Wade. We hear from our colleagues in other states that have extreme abortion bans who are rightly concerned for the physical and emotional health of patients, some of whom have had to be airlifted out of state because of serious pregnancy complications, or given birth in restrooms because they were turned away at hospitals, or forced to continue a pregnancy after rape or incest.

The Arizona Abortion Access Act will ensure abortion is accessible while also continuing to regulate abortion like any other health care procedure. Contrary to disinformation about it, the Act doesn’t remove any safety precautions. Doctors take the health and safety of our patients extremely seriously, and would never support removing needed precautions.

The ballot initiative will also help preserve health care as a whole for Arizona. Abortion bans are shown to be driving doctors away. Arizona’s abortion ban criminalizing doctors for doing their jobs will make this shortage far worse. By 2030, Arizona expects a 30% shortfall of OB/GYNs and a need to fill 2,000 positions for family physicians. We are on the frontlines of efforts to recruit doctors to work in Arizona. We talk to colleagues across Arizona and the nation about places that can attract doctors. While many factors and variables may entice doctors to a state or community, what just about every doctor, resident and medical student can agree on is that threatening to throw them in jail is no way to woo future physicians.  

We don’t blame doctors who are reluctant to come to a state that bans abortion. Prohibitions on standards of care in the practice of medicine violate fundamental principles of healing. By preventing doctors from using our medical skills and knowledge to provide the appropriate care for our patients, politicians and their abortion bans actually threaten to inflict harm on people. Telling doctors to sit on our hands while a patient experiences profound suffering because of complications during their pregnancy and then waiting until they are near death is simply unconscionable. Many of us became doctors to help people and alleviate suffering, not watch and wait for lawyers to tell us whether we can provide treatment for a patient who is bleeding heavily after their placenta ruptured. 

As doctors, we know that one-size-fits-all remedies like abortion bans are no remedy at all. Every patient is different. They experience diseases and recovery differently. Conditions like cancer, arthritis and strokes affect different people in different ways. By that same principle, every pregnancy is also different. 

Whatever their circumstances, patients deserve the freedom to make their own decisions about their health care, with trusted medical professionals and proper safety precautions in place. The Arizona Abortion Access Act will protect this freedom for our patients and for all Arizonans, and ensure their doctors can continue to do their jobs.

 Dr. Eve Shapiro is a pediatrician in Tucson. Dr. Paul Gordon is a family physician in Tucson.