Embark on a journey through the tangled web of Arizona's abortion legislation with me, Walt Blackman, as we dissect the Supreme Court's decision to resurrect an archaic law, and the whirlwind of political chess that ensued. Witness the unfolding drama as I unravel the implications of the state's legislative twists and turns, including the repeal attempts and the introduction of new, divisive bills. This episode is a clarion call to understand the seismic shifts in policy that could shape the battleground of reproductive rights for years to come.
The stakes are high, and the debate is fiery. We scrutinize the proposed Arizona Abortion Access Act with a critical eye, questioning its broad healthcare provider definitions and the potential ethical quandaries of permitting late-term abortions. As Arizona stands at the crossroads of a major constitutional amendment, I passionately urge you to consider the moral implications and legal ramifications that come with such profound changes to our state's landscape. Join me in this crucial conversation as we navigate the complexities of this hot-button issue in the lead-up to a pivotal election season.
Embark on a journey through the tangled web of Arizona's abortion legislation with me, Walt Blackman, as we dissect the Supreme Court's decision to resurrect an archaic law, and the whirlwind of political chess that ensued. Witness the unfolding drama as I unravel the implications of the state's legislative twists and turns, including the repeal attempts and the introduction of new, divisive bills. This episode is a clarion call to understand the seismic shifts in policy that could shape the battleground of reproductive rights for years to come.
The stakes are high, and the debate is fiery. We scrutinize the proposed Arizona Abortion Access Act with a critical eye, questioning its broad healthcare provider definitions and the potential ethical quandaries of permitting late-term abortions. As Arizona stands at the crossroads of a major constitutional amendment, I passionately urge you to consider the moral implications and legal ramifications that come with such profound changes to our state's landscape. Join me in this crucial conversation as we navigate the complexities of this hot-button issue in the lead-up to a pivotal election season.
Let's sit back and relax and get ready for the Walt Blackman Show.
Speaker 2:
Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to a place where facts are our North Star and common sense is our guiding principle. You've just tuned into the Walt Blackman Show. He's the voice that cuts through the noise, the man who isn't afraid to tell it like it is. Please welcome your host, the one and only Walt Blackman.
Speaker 3:
Hello America and welcome back to another episode of the Walt Blackman Show. I'm your host, walt Blackman. Hello America and welcome back to another episode of the Walt Blackman Show. I'm your host, walt Blackman, and boy do we have an incredible lineup for you today. We're going to dig deep, expose truths and demolish myths, always with hard-hitting common sense and facts. Well, well, well, hello everybody. It's Walt Blackman. Welcome to the Walt Blackman Show. I hope that you had a great weekend. Today is Monday. We're going to be talking about the abortion. The Democrats have already actually began to motivate their base to try to get this thing across the finish line. We're going to be talking about that. We'll be talking about how it will affect the Republican caucus, and much, much more here on the Walt Blackman Show. So stand by and get ready for the Walt Blackman Show right after these messages.
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Speaker 3:
Okay, everybody, welcome back. This is Walt Blackman. Let's dive right into this. There is a lot to unpack here on this show, so let's really get going.
Speaker 3:
So if you've been sleeping under a rock somewhere, you should know that the Arizona Supreme Court ruled last week, or about a week and a half ago, to make abortion largely illegal in the Grand Canyon State, reinstating a 160-year-old year old law that forbids all procedures except for those to save the woman's life. Now Justice Lopez, in her writing of the court in a 4-2 split decision, said that a 2022 law allowing abortions up to 15 weeks of gestations depended on the existence of a federal constitutional right to abortion and, since the US Supreme Court eliminated that right in the Dobbs v Jackson's Women's Health Organization ruling over two years ago, that the law can't overrule one's first pass, the ones that was first passed in 1864, when Arizona was a territory. Now some folks are up in arms about that. However, in her writing, she actually said absent the federal constitutional law of abortion rights and because of the 15-week abortion law does not independently authorize abortion, there is no provision in federal or state law prohibiting the 1864 laws. Operation according to the 1864 law is now enforceable. Now some folks are like holy Batman. Now here's what the 1864 law read A person who provides, supplies or administers to a pregnant woman, such as medicine, drugs, substances, or uses or employs any instrument or any other means, whether with intent thereby to produce a miscarriage of such woman, unless it is necessary to save her life, she'll be punished by imprisonment in the state prison for not less than two years, nor more than five years. Now, that means right now that if a person, if a person, administers an abortion in the state of Arizona, they can go to jail up to two years. Now, as we know, the Attorney General, attorney General Mays, says she's not going to enforce that law and there is a gap between that as well. There's that 90-day gap. That's between that. Now that law is already there. It's already there. So the Arizona House actually repealed the 1864 law 133603. The House repealed it. Now it goes over to the Senate this week or next week it's probably this week, I believe. It goes over to the Senate this week and then it goes to the governor's desk to be signed. However, since it is not an emergency measure with three-fourths of the chamber, that bill does not go into effect until 90 days after it is signed. So anyone who goes and gets an abortion between the time that thing is signed, guess what? They are actually committing a crime in Arizona based under the 1864 law. Now let's go on a timeline right here.
Speaker 3:
In 1971, the Planned Parenthood Center in Tucson, arizona a Planned Parenthood, I think it's a predecessors of Planned Parenthood Arizona Association. They joined several doctors in a lawsuit against the state of Arizona and argued that the state's near total abortion ban is a violation of the Arizona and US Constitution. Now, as we know you know I don't see where it was a violation of the Constitution because abortion is murder to me. However, it is what it is September 29th of 1972, the Pinell County Superior Court. They blocked enforcement of the state's 1864 abortion law. In that case Planned Parenthood's center of Tucson v Nelson. The court sided with Planned Parenthood, saying that the state's near-total abortion law is too broad and violates a woman's right to privacy. Arizona Attorney General Gary Nelson at the time. He appealed that decision. We move forward in January of 1973. It also said that abortions are once again outlawed in Arizona.
Speaker 3:
The Arizona courts of appeal reversed the lower court's decision in the case of Gary Nelson versus the Planned Parenthood Center of Tucson. The court reversed that to the lower court decisions that had blocked enforcement of the state's 1864 near total ban abortion, and judges said that the state has an interest in protecting embryos and fetuses and that the constitutional right to privacy does not extend to abortion. That is something that I believe in, right there, because the Constitution does protect embryos and fetuses. I don't even like to use the term fetuses. However, they have a constitutional right of life liberty, the pursuit of happiness, due process under the constitution. We all know where that goes. That's why I think we need to do a personhood piece of legislation to protect children that fall up underneath this and if you want to call them embryos or fetuses or what have you, we have a responsibility to protect the unborn and that's what this 1973 Court of Appeals Court, that's why they reversed it back to the lower courts. We'll be back right after these messages here on the Walt Blackman Show.
Speaker 2:
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Speaker 3:
Welcome back everybody to the Walt Blackman Show and let's continue on. We did a timeline, continue on. We did a timeline and, as I was saying, in January 1973, the state went back to the appeals court, the lower court, and again that year later, actually the. The first reversal was January 22nd of 1973, the Arizona Court of Appeals, which had weeks earlier, upheld the state's abortion ban and it vacated its opinion in the case. It responds or responds to the Supreme Court's Roe v Wade decision and quote unquote from the the court at that time, the Arizona Supreme Court at that time. We are bound by the United States Supreme Court's interpretation of the United States Constitution. A former judge, joseph Howard. He wrote in the opinion of the Arizona Supreme Court of the appeals that places a permanent injunction on the state's 1864 law banning most of the abortions, or most abortions. The injunction blocking enforcement of the law remains in place.
Speaker 3:
In 2022, when the US Supreme Court overruled the Roe v Wade, what happened? Fast forward to June of 2022, the US Supreme Court ended the constitutional right to abortion in the Dobbs v Jackson Women's Health Organization decision. The court overturned the 1973 Roe v Wade decision, which had guaranteed abortion rights nationwide. Now Dub's decision returns and returned correction returned the power to regulate abortion to the state, and that's where it should be. It should be left to the states to decide that. Now, particularly here in Arizona, it wasn't immediately clear of which abortion law should take effect in the absence of Roe. Now then Governor Ducey said that he believed that the state should follow a law allowing abortions up to 15 weeks, and that's where that 15-week abortion bill came out, and he signed that in 2020. Now then-Attorney General Mark Brnovitz he said he believed that the state should enforce the near-total ban abortion from Arizona's territorial days. Now you have two different opinions on that. You got the Attorney General saying one thing, then Mark Brnovich, who is a Republican, and then you had Republican Doug Ducey that said we should go to the 15-week one, and we ended up with the 15-week one. I actually was in the legislative body when that happened body when that happened. And then later on that year, july 13th of 2022, attorney Mark Brnovich made that statement again and he filed a motion to lift the 1973 injunction which had blocked enforcement of the law for 49 years while Roe v Wade was in place. Now a lot of people don't know that he did that. They don't know that. He filed a motion to block that injunction.
Speaker 3:
Pinell County Court Judge Johnson he heard the argument over the state's conflicting abortion law and I got to tell you this thing is not just about what was going on prior to all this the 1864 or what have you. This thing, there is a lot here. Now let me give you a little bit about the. I want to unpack a little bit about the Pinell County correction, the Pima County Superior Court judge, what they said, and they said lawyers for the attorney general's office argued for putting the old law back in force. A Tucson judge and I don't have the guy's name of the Tucson judge that actually heard this appeal or this injunction placed by the attorney general's office then Mark Brnovich, the Tucson judge, issued an injunction blocking enforcement of the ban of the 1973 after the US Supreme Court decision of Roe v Wade court decision of Roe v Wade. Now I got to tell you there is a lot with this. This isn't just something, that this isn't just the 1864 law and then the Roe v Wade in the 15 week. There is a lot more with this.
Speaker 3:
Now, in October of last year 2020, correction to 2022, some abortions are allowed to resume in Arizona two weeks after the near total ban on the procedures went back into effect. So when that law the 15 week was actually there was actually on the books. It was signed by Governor Ducey about three months later. Okay, then the 15-week abortion came into play. It's the same that we are seeing today and because of what we saw, you know a morning talking about, there's going to be that gap in between when the governor signs the 15 week abortion bill if she signs it and what is actually on the books right now.
Speaker 3:
Now, november 2022, a three judge panel with the Arizona Court of Appeals revisited the Superior Court's judge decision from September that's September 2022, and heard oral arguments over whether the state should enforce a 2022 law that allows abortions up to 15 weeks in pregnancy or a law dating back to the 1860 that bans the procedure except to save the life of the pregnant person Now Planned Parenthood. That same year went after Arizona in that and the lead attorney in that was Sarah Mack Douglas. She argued to the lower case or to the lower court should have clarified how the old law known as ARS 1336-03 fits in with decades of other legislation related to the abortion law in Arizona. Again, law in Arizona. Again, there is so much to unpack in this abortion thing that we have. That's going on and this is going to the ballot now.
Speaker 3:
Now the Democrats were supposed to get 3,000, a little over 300,000 signatures to get on the ballot, to get this stand on the ballot. Now, I have not seen what the new numbers are for the Democrats trying to get this on the ballot. However, I have been told that they have over 500,000 signatures and I got to tell you, man, that is alarming, because what we are going to see, we are going to either see one or two things. We're going to see more Republicans that go to the ballot because they don't want this crazy thing. That's going to be on the ballot. The initiative that they are pushing, that the Democrats are pushing, are. We are going to see more Democrats go there because they want to see this on-demand abortion go to the ballot, get passed by the people and be added to the Constitution. More to follow after these messages from our sponsors.
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Speaker 3:
Welcome back everybody to the Walt Blackman Show. We are at the bottom of the hour here. Let's dive into this again. Let's take a look at the actual initiative that is actually going to be going to the ballot from the Arizona Abortion Access. They even have a web page and you know they had folks that you can even sign the petition on the web page, which is crazy. So you know they probably have their, you know, required number of signatures that they've been trying to get. Now, as I said, the requirement to get on the ballot, the requirement was a little over, well, actually north of 300,000. I've been told they had 500,000. I've been told that they were still working on it. I don't know. We'll see if it makes it to the ballot.
Speaker 3:
Now, what the initiative does? The Arizona Abortion Access Act? It's a proposed constitutional amendment, so it is not a new bill. They are trying to amend the 1864 Territorial Act to say that every person in Arizona has a right to individual autonomy, you know, to include health care decisions. That's been the left's argument the whole time, without any government interference, and that's what they believe. Now the act they're saying establishes a fundamental right to abortion. Now, if you've read the actual initiative that they are actually pushing there.
Speaker 3:
They say a health care provider this is just one of the examples. In this crazy, crazy piece of legislation amendment to the constitution that they are, that they have filed, they say a healthcare provider can administer an abortion. A healthcare provider? So what is the definition of a healthcare provider? And I think we need to really get into that because I'm not sure that people really understand that point. So, when you look up the term healthcare provider and this is what their initiative says a healthcare provider, a healthcare provider is a person or organization that provides health services to individuals. This term encompasses a wide range of professionals, including doctors, nurses, dentists, therapists, pharmacists and others who are licensed to deliver health care. So you're trying to tell me a dentist is authorized to give an abortion, because that's what this law that they have come up with is saying. They are basically saying that any one of these healthcare providers, based on the definition of what a healthcare provider is, that a dentist can give an abortion, that a nurse can give an abortion, that a therapist, a pharmacist can give an abortion, that a nurse can give an abortion, that a therapist, a pharmacist can give an abortion. You walk in to your dentist's office and say, hey, you know, instead of getting my teeth clean, I think I'll have an abortion. What in the hell is going on? And why? Would they think?
Speaker 3:
The folks that have pushed this crazy, crazy piece of legislation on the people who don't think that it is okay, that the limitation is solely to protect the health of the patient and that it doesn't infringe on their autonomy, decision-making and uses only the least restrictive means, it says also in this crazy bill, the act protects access to abortion after fetal viability. Now, what is fetal viability? Nope, now the whole thing. I have a problem with the whole thing. However, I want to talk about this fetal viability and what it refers to, to the point in the pregnancy when a fetus has reached a developmental stage where it can potentially survive outside the womb without medical assistance. This point is generally considered to occur around 24 weeks of gestation, but depending on the size of the baby, this or that it depends on an individual circumstances. However, after fetal viability, if a fetus is delivered, it has a chance of survival outside of the uterus, although it may require significant medical support, life support, so on and so forth, especially if the baby is born early. Viability, ladies and gentlemen, is an important legal and ethical milestone in pregnancy because it affects the decision related to medical care and it also, as they are saying, points to the abortion rights and when to intervene in cases of complications. When to intervene in cases of complications.
Speaker 3:
Now the question is is this procedure after the point of viability, as the initiative actually says? After fetal viability? That means that a person can have an abortion after the baby can survive outside the womb. That means they can go up to the point of birth and have an abortion. And then, lastly, in this crazy piece of legislation, it says the act prevents the state from penalizing anyone who assists another person in exercising their right to abortion. I got to tell you, ladies and gentlemen, we are in a crazy, crazy spot right now in our state. Now, this abortion access right is in other states as well and, based on what we have seen thus far, this thing may end up in Arizona, in Arizona. It may end up here in Arizona as the law, a constitutional right for people to go and have a baby or have an abortion by a medical provider I broke that down dentist, pharmacist, you know Whoever, you know whoever, and then not even you know, to make it worse, have an abortion up past the point of fetal viability and, as I explained to you, past fetal viability is the point where a baby can survive outside of the womb and and in some cases as as you know, I want to be transparent some cases the baby may need special treatment or or life support or whatever. However, the majority of the babies that are past the 24-week, past fetal viability can survive outside of the womb. This piece of garbage legislation that is being sent to the ballot says that a person can have an abortion after the baby can survive outside the womb. What has our society come to, where we can kill a baby after we know that the baby can survive? Now, I don't know the numbers of people that have abortions after 24 weeks. That may be something we need to look at. However, it does not matter if it's one or 100 or 1,000 or 1 million people having abortions past the 24-week point of viability.
Speaker 3:
The reason why the Arizona law of 1864 criminalized this is because they probably had foresight to know that this isn't women's health care. This is murder. Why is it if you, if a pregnant woman who is shot and killed and the baby dies? That is a double homicide. But it is okay, based on their language in this crazy, crazy bill, that they can go past the point of viability when the baby can survive outside the womb and have the abortion. But it is not homicide. That doesn't make any sense to me. It doesn't make any sense that somebody would just come up with this and say you know what? Not only do we want to have pharmacists be able to perform abortions on people women, we want to go past the point to where that baby can survive outside of the womb. That's why this is a big fight. That's why folks really need to get involved during this election season. You really need to get involved. If you are not involved, if you are not informed, if you are not doing your homework and not doing the research, people, you have to know that these types of crazy, barbaric laws will come to fruition and we will have a mess on our hands.
Speaker 3:
Now, next week, I'm going to be talking about the abortion rate in black communities. Now, I've talked about this before on my show, the Walt Blackman Show, but we're going to talk a little bit more about this and how this law can actually damage the Black community, particularly if this thing is passed in states where the majority of pregnancies and abortions are performed on black women. We're going to be talking about that and more on the next series of this. Again, everyone, this is Walt Blackman. I am so, so glad that you're able to tune in and listen to the conversation.
Speaker 3:
Next week we will also be opening up our phone lines so people can call in and they can actually ask those questions about what really is going on. They can call in to 928-241-4779 that is the call-in number and they will be able to ask these questions when we are live on this talk show. This is Walt Blackman. Everybody, take care, god bless, remember to stay informed, stay tuned and understand that if you are not part of the solution, you are definitely part of the problem. We need more folks that are part of. I'm Walt Blackman. Everybody, take care, god bless, and we'll see you next time on the Walt Blackman Show.
Speaker 4:
Thanks for diving into the world of the Walt Blackman Show with us this week. If you've missed out on any of our electrifying episodes, fear not every moment awaits your ears. Just swing by Apple Podcasts, spotify, amazon Music, podcast, addict Podchaser or Player FM to catch up on the adventure. And if you're thirsting for even more, walt's digital domain at wwwbuzzsproutcom is your treasure trove. Simply navigate to the Walt Blackman Show page. Until our next journey together, thank you for joining the ride here at the Walt Blackman Show. Stay tuned, stay curious and, above all, stay excited.