Women's reproductive health care - aggressive attack in Arizona

The threat to women's reproductive health care is under aggressive attack. It is not just about denying access to a safe and legal abortion; rather this legislation will restrict women from receiving wellness exams, cancer screenings, and birth control. Cutting off health services aimed at helping women is unacceptable.

The Arizona Capitol, this week, has seen one of the most anti-women agenda's in history. The bills below are very likely to reach the Governor's desk in the next week:

HB2416/SB1246

• Rural women will lose access to abortion entirely, as early abortion-by-pill is the only form of abortion available outside Phoenix and Tucson.
• The bill expands required components of informed consent to include mandatory ultrasound and "auscultation" (listening to fetal organs including the heart) no sooner than one hour before the procedure.

HB2443

• Requires that both the patient and the abortion provider sign an affidavit stating that the abortion is not to select for race or gender and prohibits abortion if used for race or gender selection, either based on the race of the fetus or the race of the parent.

HB2384 & SB1265

• Will prohibit ANY organization that receives state funding or contracts with the state from providing, funding, referring for or offering insurance coverage, for abortion.
• Hospitals that accept Medicaid won't be able to provide abortion to critically ill women.
• Women's shelters that receive state grants won't be able to make abortion referrals to women in abusive and violent relationships.

SB 1390

• Requires doctors that provide any type of abortion, including abortion by pill; to have admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles of the abortion clinic.
• A physician is guilty of a class 3 misdemeanor if the physician performs an abortion without hospital privileges.

Call your legislator to voice your concerns regarding this legislation. Do your part, stay informed about bills in the Arizona Senate and House.

Senator Gallardo Blasts Deceptive SCR 1025

This post comes to us via the Arizona Advocacy Network. We are excited to begin passing along information to our LD20 activists that will help keep you informed!

Phoenix, Ariz—Sen. Steve Gallardo responded to the effort by Senators Steve Pierce and Scott Bundgaard to pass SCR 1025, a deceptive ballot referendum that could result in voters unwittingly repealing Clean Elections. The measure does not mention Clean Elections.

“SCR 1025 is completely dishonest,” said Sen. Steve Gallardo. “Backers of this measure are afraid to debate Clean Elections on its merits because they know voters overwhelmingly support the popular program. Instead they are hoping to deceive voters into killing the Clean Elections by defunding it and that’s shameful.”

“If they want to repeal Clean Elections, why not be honest about it? Voters have made it clear they are sick and tired of sneaky and deceptive ballot measures. These
legislators keep proving they are out-of-touch with voters.”

SCR 1025 would effectively end Clean Elections in Arizona by constitutionally barring the use of “public funds” for candidate campaigns. In order to achieve this, the amendment slated for the 2012 ballot redefines “public funds” to include the ten percent surcharge on lawbreakers that comprises the Citizens Clean Elections Fund. When voters passed Clean Elections they provided a funding mechanism separate from the general fund. The Clean Elections Fund regularly contributes excess money to the general fund, so passage would result in more cuts to the general fund.


Linda Brown
Executive Director
Arizona Advocacy Network
602-297-2500 (office)
602-297-3600 (fax)
1616 E Indian School Road, Suite 340
Phoenix, AZ 85016
www.azadvocacy.org

Speed Camera Inequities: A Citizen Speaks Out

Speed cameras rolled out across Arizona as a statewide initiative to curb speeding in 2008 amidst protest and controversy. These cameras now pepper the roadside, often in locations that capitalize on reduced speed limits, difficult merge areas and long wide open stretches of highway. Despite the fact that there have been many recorded instances of incorrectly issued tickets, inconsistencies in citation and conviction, Arizona motorists continue to endure the speed camera's presence. We often encourage you to act on issues that affect you, and in this case, you do not have to simply tolerate injustice. Below, is a letter written by an LD20 citizen that we have been given permission to publish. We encourage you to share with us your issues and how you have taken action to address them! You can email us at ld20dems@gmail.com to share your stories.

Dear Mr McCain,

I am writing you today because I feel that our traffic and justice system are broken. This leaves our citizens and residents of Az feeling helpless, over scrutinize with not much added benefit and unsafe. Please let me expand.

In Phoenix many, many speed cameras (stationary and vans) have been installed, sometimes feet after a speed limit changes to 10 below where the speed cameras are. All of these speed cameras are machines that have any error, like any machine. The judge representative that heard my case in court and RedFlex witness both agreed that the cameras probably have 1 mph error inhered in them (although I have heard higher numbers for this error from police officials-the complaint line that the court gave me to report this- to be higher).

The fact is also that people also slow down when they see these cameras, which likely causes a lot of accidents. I have personally been rear ended on 5 different occasions (none being my fault) because of stops and goes in traffic flow. I can see a lot of potential accidents occurring from these cameras. This is a bad thing.

In addition, I feel that our justice system is flawed. I was tried by a judge representative that is not educated in statistics. I received a ticket for 11mph over the speed limit on a freeway where there were 2 other cars on my side of the free way and they were semi- trucks (not much of a sample size). Also, the camera van was parked feet away from where the speed limit changed from 75 mph to 65 mph. This did not give me much time to react. The RedFlex witness based his whole case on statistics, yet he could not tell me how they were calculated or what the sample size was. The judge representative listened and did not care. In fact he ruled in favor of RedFlex in every case that came before him that I saw that day. I sat through 3 other cases.

I feel that this was not a fair trial for 5 reasons. First, my friend Adolph received a speeding ticket for doing 11mph over the speed limit. He went to court and was found innocent in a Phoenix court (cmp number was 50179704). I was tried for the same thing and found guilty. Second, the judge representative ruling ruled against all of the defendants in his court room (that I saw). Third, the judge representative did not recognize error in the machines and misleading statistics from RedFlex (sample size 3 cars and misleading scatter plot). Fourth, I was given a help line number (from the court clerk) to a police officer’s answering machine that stated that the error on the speed cameras was up to 3 or 4 mph wrong and the court would not accept that and denied that the officer was affiliated with the court even though in the same court, it was the court clerk that gave me the number. Fifth, I tried to appeal, like the court clerk suggested, and a judge in the court said that he would not hear the case unless ordered to by the Supreme Court since it was already ruled on. It is $78 to file an appeal. I do not feel that my ruling was fair, but I feel helpless to do anything about it. Do you have any suggestions? I have a 7 day time limit.

Please write me back with suggestions about what I can do for my case and please look into all of the things I have written about our system.

I am very proud to be an American; however, I am not proud of the above.

Thank you for your time and attention,

Erin

Phoenix Symphony Budget Crisis

As I have mentioned before, the purpose of this blog is not only to inform, but to galvanize to action! Please help support the arts! The following is a communication from the Phoenix Symphony:

Dear Friend of the Symphony and the Arts,

I am asking you to take action TODAY to preserve arts funding for the Symphony and other arts groups from the State of Arizona. As you may know, tickets sales cover about 50% of the Symphony's operating expenses and, therefore, we rely on annual grants and gifts like the $125,000 funding from the State of Arizona to present our 200 concerts per year and touch the lives of about 75,000 students and young adults.

Arizona's historic budget crisis has put the future of the state's arts community in serious danger. The Arizona House and Senate Leadership budgets:

• Propose cuts to the Arizona Commission on the Arts budget of more than 70 percent!
• Put at risk up to 50,000 private-sector arts industry jobs across Arizona.
• Virtually eliminate Arizona Commission on the Arts-supported education programs in school and communities that touch 1.7 million Arizona youth.
• Sweep the remaining $14.653 million from Arizona ArtShare, the statewide arts endowment fund that as recently as January stood at $20 million before the Legislature made its first sweep of funds.

Many of you are arts advocates, but I am asking you today to be an arts activist by taking the following actions:

Step 1. Locate your Legislator (For district 20, these are Rae Waters, John McComish and John Huppenthal)
Step 2. E-mail, call or write to your Legislator and tell them about specific arts programs in your area, their importance to your community's quality of life and how they have touched you, your family and your neighbors.
Step 3. Forward this e-mail to your friends, family and other arts advocates.

We support and appreciate our Legislative activists in the House and Senate who have defended the Arizona arts community, but they need your help in reaching out to the decision makers. Time is running out. The future of the arts in Arizona depends on you.
Make your voice heard!

Thank you for your support.
Sincerely,

Maryellen H. GleasonPresident & CEO