The political rhetoric is loud, but I know the quiet truth: there is never a reasonable time for an abortion ban. I know because I was affected by one.

Women in Arizona no longer have the legal right to an abortion due to a fetal abnormality at any stage of the pregnancy, even if Arizona courts finally conclude the procedure is legal through 15 weeks for no reason at all.

Mental and behavioral health conditions are also a leading cause of maternal mortality in the U.S. In Arizona, nearly half of all pregnancy-associated deaths are due to mental health or substance use issues, according to the Arizona Department of Health Services. Dr. Saira Kalia, a perinatal psychiatrist at the University of Arizona College of Medicine, and Dr. Kathryn Emerick, also a perinatal psychiatrist at the University of Arizona, are working to launch a statewide hotline next spring for providers who serve the perinatal population.

Doulas in Arizona and around the country don’t deliver babies, but these nonmedical labor assistants can make a difference in maternal health outcomes. Of 30 states where the maternal mortality rate is known, Arizona ranked ninth for these deaths from 2018 to 2020, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.

Appellate judges grilled an assistant attorney general over his claim that a territorial-era law banning most abortions once again makes the practice a crime despite a new law specifically permitting doctors to terminate a pregnancy through the 15th week of pregnancy. And hanging in the balance is whether abortions will remain legal in Arizona.

Saying it now has legal breathing room, Planned Parenthood of Arizona is reopening all its sites where it offers abortion in the state.

An oft refrain of the forced pregnancy crowd is that they didn’t seek to attack the pregnant woman but to help her. Reality has exposed that lie.

Nearly four years after a woman ended an unwanted pregnancy with abortion pills obtained at a Phoenix clinic, she finds herself mired in an ongoing lawsuit over that decision.

Arizona lawmakers are weighing whether they should enshrine in statute rules governing access to feminine hygiene products for female prison inmates and regulating the treatment of pregnant prisoners.

If interest groups and lawmakers want to reduce abortions, it behooves them to follow science and increase access to contraception, not restrict it. Words have meaning. Facts are important. Scientific evidence should shape health care policy, not political rhetoric. SB1362 should receive a resounding “nay” from the responsible legislators in Arizona.