Republicans help defeat Arizona abortion pill ban

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP

By BOB CHRISTIE

PHOENIX (AP) — Three Republicans in the Arizona House defected from a united GOP front on Thursday to defeat a measure that would have banned manufacturing or prescribing medication that would cause an abortion.

The bill that unexpectedly failed would have eliminated the choice used by half of the people who have abortions in the state, leaving a surgical procedure as the only option.

“Members, I am about as pro-life as they come,” Rep. Michelle Udall of Mesa said as she joined all Democrats in voting against the measure. “However, in my research of some of these medications, they are used for other purposes as well.”

“They’re used for women who have had a miscarriage. They’re also used to treat Cushing’s Syndrome, and they have other uses,” she said. “And so to criminalize making these medications and using them will hurt other people.”



FILE - Rep. Michelle Udall, R-Mesa, is sworn in during the opening of the Arizona Legislature at the state Capitol Monday, Jan. 11, 2021, in Phoenix. Udall defected from a united GOP front on Thursday, Feb. 24, 2022, to defeat a measure that would have banned manufacturing or prescribing medication that would cause an abortion. The bill that unexpectedly failed would have eliminated the choice used by half of the people who have abortions in the state, leaving a surgical procedure as the only option. "Members, I am about as pro-life as they come," Udall of Mesa said as she joined all Democrats in voting against the measure. "However, in my research of some of these medications, they are used for other purposes as well. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin, Pool, File)


Read more: https://apnews.com/article/abortion-health-arizona-legislature-medication-f9ccf6c31aa2ce6f2f3d8cfc03ca9601

[RussBLib]

1. it's been awhile since....

I said, yea! Republicans!

[JohnSJ]

3. lol

[DownriverDem]

2. Whatever the reason

the result is the same. Women are so close to losing their healthcare choices. Not just legal abortions, but contraceptives as well.

[BlueIdaho]

4. Expect them to face a primary challenger

For turning their back on the great and powerful TFG.

[BumRushDaShow]

5. As a note - she married into the GOP line of the well known "Udall Family"

(where Democrats know the Mo, Tom, and Mark Udall side of the family but she is married to Jesse A. Udall - one of the grandsons with the same name I believe, on the GOP side)

A Different Kind of Udall
Stephen Lemons September 26, 2019

(snip)

She called herself a fierce proponent of school choice, but she pointed out that there was a plethora of options for parents in Arizona, from charter schools to homeschooling to traditional public schools. “If school choice was the panacea of education, we would have the top education system in the country,” she said. “We don’t need more choices, we need better choices. And in order to do that, we’ve got to improve the schools that we have.”

Udall was one of just four Republicans who joined their Democratic colleagues to try to block the bill. Nevertheless, the bill passed the House 31-28, with one abstention, and since it had already passed the Senate, on it went for Ducey’s signature to become law. Udall’s stance would get her labeled a “RINO,” a Republican in Name Only,” by the far-right ideologues in her party. But her opposition to the voucher expansion proved prescient.

That’s because Ducey’s gambit boomeranged, sparking a grassroots movement by teachers and parents called Save Our Schools, which put a referendum on the ballot in 2018, Proposition 305, asking voters to jettison the voucher plan. And did they ever. The electorate repealed the law 65 to 35 percent, handing Ducey one of his biggest defeats to date. Fast-forward a year, and Udall is now chair of the House Education Committee, an intriguing and unlikely star in a Legislature where moderates increasingly hold sway as the Republican majority dwindles and the state turns deeper shades of purple.

But lest you misread her last name and think her an heir to the famous Democrats from that family, think again. Her last name was acquired by marriage to a side of the Udall clan that’s as Republican as Mitt Romney, and she remains a devout and socially conservative follower of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

https://www.phoenixmag.com/2019/09/26/a-different-kind-of-udall/

[rpannier]

7. I find it interesting that Levi and Jesse were both CJ of the AZ SC

But are from different political parties

[BumRushDaShow]

8. I found it wild

about all the early polygamy going on in that family (as Mormons).

[StevieM]

9. David King Udall was married to Eliza Stewart and Ida Hunt at the same time.

He was a polygamist. He also took a third wife in 1903, which was 13 years after polygamy was outlawed. It was in 1904 that the Second Manifesto made it clear that the LDS church was really serious when they said that they wanted people to stop doing that.

Also, Utah Senator Mike Lee is descended from the Lee family branch of this expansive family tree.

[BumRushDaShow]

10. Yup.

It's pretty wild.

But it's interesting how they generally stayed in that area of the SW too.

[Skittles]

6. ooh, repukes who actually educated themselves on the subject