TUCSON, Ariz (KGUN) — Now that a Supreme Court ruling opens the door to Arizona and other states restricting abortion or banning it altogether, Pima County Supervisors voted four to one to support abortion rights. Supervisors says they will ensure that people can get reproductive care that stops just short of abortioon.
Board Chair Sharon Bronson put the item up for a vote. She wanted the county on the record as supporting abortion rights. The board recognized the county cannot offer abortion but will offer other legal reproductive health care. Supervisors supported the resolution four to one with District 4 Supervisor Christy opposing.
Supervisor Adelita Grijalva said forcing someone to deliver an unwanted child is a form of oppression.
Supervisor and Medical Doctor Matt Heinz urged the County Health Department to look for new ways to share information about reproductive health.
“...and extend ourselves through telehealth and telemedicine resources into the library system to see what we can do in terms of counseling, contraception, with regard to contraception, and even provision of plan B and other interventions if deemed appropriate by our staff.”
In-person speakers have been rare since COVID but before the vote Paul Parisi of the faith-based group 4Tucson urged supervisors to reject the resolution.
“I agree with preventing unintended pregnancies, but you should promote life. Okay. And we should be looking at promoting live birth and adoption, and helping women that are in crisis, actually get help. This ordinance doesn't do this.”
The resolution also calls for health care providers to coordinate with the county on how best to plan and deliver reproductive care.
RELATED: Board of Supervisors vote to encourage reproductive health care
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Craig Smith is a reporter for KGUN 9. With more than 40 years of reporting in cities like Tampa, Houston and Austin, Craig has covered more than 40 Space Shuttle launches and covered historic hurricanes like Katrina, Ivan, Andrew and Hugo. Share your story ideas and important issues with Craig by emailing craig.smith@kgun9.com or by connecting on Facebook and Twitter.
