Arizona State Senator Eva Burch, a Democrat, was praised after delivering a poignant speech on the Senate floor Monday afternoon, revealing her decision to undergo an abortion and advocating for a more compassionate approach to reproductive rights.
Burch, who has years of experience as an emergency room nurse and nurse practitioner at a women’s health clinic, disclosed that she and her husband had recently discovered she was pregnant.
However, her journey with fertility had been fraught with challenges, including multiple miscarriages. Burch recounted a previous abortion she underwent two weeks before the landmark Dobbs ruling in 2022 due to a nonviable diagnosis of a wanted pregnancy.
Now faced with another nonviable pregnancy, Burch courageously declared her intention to terminate it.
You can hear what she said in the video below.
Burch said:
“We have determined that my pregnancy is once again not progressing and is not viable, and once again I have scheduled an appointment to terminate my pregnancy."
"I don't think people should have to justify their abortions. But I’m choosing to talk about why I made this decision because I want us to be able to have meaningful conversations about the reality of how the work that we do in this body impacts people in the real world.”
“I don’t know how many of you have been unfortunate enough to experience a miscarriage before, but I am not interested in going through it unnecessarily. Right now, the safest and most appropriate treatment for me — and the treatment that I choose — is abortion."
She emphasized:
"But the laws this legislature has passed has interfered with my ability to do that.”
Burch lamented the interference they posed to her access to care, describing the ordeal of undergoing a transvaginal ultrasound and enduring misinformation during her clinic visit, highlighting the intrusive and coercive nature of such regulations:
“From where I sat, the only reason I had to hear those things was a cruel and really uninformed attempt by outside forces to shame and coerce and frighten me into making a different decision other than the one that I knew was right for me."
“There’s no one-size-fits-all script for people seeking abortion care, and the legislature doesn’t have any right to assign one.”
Urging her colleagues to prioritize evidence-based policymaking and heed the voices of constituents, Burch emphasized the need to resist political agendas that compromise reproductive autonomy and affirmed her alignment with those impacted by Arizona's abortion laws:
“I stand with those who have had to grapple with and navigate Arizona’s restrictive laws surrounding abortion at a time when the decisions being made were complicated enough."
I’m with them. I appreciate them. I am them.”
Many praised her for speaking out and expressed their solidarity in the continued fight for reproductive freedom.
In Arizona, abortion is prohibited after 15 weeks, and while Burch did not disclose her exact gestational age, she confirmed that she was still receiving care within the state's legal timeframe.
Abortion rights advocates in Arizona are actively campaigning for a pro-choice constitutional amendment to safeguard abortion access up to fetal viability, typically around 24 weeks. The initiative, aiming for the November ballot, requires significant signature collection by July.
Organizers say they are on track to secure 800,000 signatures by their deadline, double the amount required.
