‘Women are losing their lives’: The US state where abortion rights could sway the vote
Irma, the receptionist at Acacia Women’s Center in Phoenix, Arizona, is repeating a spiel she gives dozens of times a week to different women before their appointments.
“We are going to do the procedure so you need to prepare,” she says, “arrive early, wear little to no make-up so that we can check the colour in your face.”
“There are protesters here, but mainly on a Saturday,” she tells the women.
Abortion is no longer simply a personal medical matter. Across this country, reproductive rights is a burning election issue.
Especially in the battleground state of Arizona, where abortion is literally on the ballot.
Signs inside and outside the clinic urge people to “vote yes to prop 139”. It’s a special measure which, if passed, would enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution.
The down-ballot measure was added at the demand of Arizona voters after two years of reproductive rights hanging in the balance.
The overturning of Roe v Wade, which gave women the constitutional right to choose, awoke a dormant law in Arizona from 1864.
The civil war era ruling banned all abortions even in the case of rape or incest. It has since been repealed but the fear over the rowing back of women’s rights remains.
Irma welcomes people to the Acacia Women’s Center in Arizona
“It’s horrific and women are losing their lives because of these bans,” said Kristin Gambardella, “we need to fight for them.”
Last year, at 17 weeks pregnant, Ms Gambardella, who is from Tucson, Arizona, was told by a doctor her unborn child had foetal abnormalities.
“Our baby, it was guaranteed she would live a short life and it would be full of pain and surgeries,” she said.
Already a mother to a son, born in 2021, this had been a desperately wanted pregnancy, but Ms Gambardella and her husband, Dave, made the heartbreaking decision to get an abortion.
Kristin Gambardella and her husband Dave
However, the law in Arizona now bans abortion after 15 weeks, even in cases of foetal abnormalities.
The couple drove seven hours across state lines to New Mexico to have the procedure.
“On the last night of my pregnancy, I fell asleep in a strange short-term rental in New Mexico, trying to cherish my last moments with my baby,” she said,
“I should have been with my family, giving our baby girl love and mourning our loss. I was angry with my state but that anger has turned into action.”
Ms Gambardella is determined to tell her story in the hope that people in Arizona will be moved to support abortion access.
She worries that, if elected, Donald Trump would pursue a national abortion ban, although he has insisted that isn’t part of his platform.
“I’m in disbelief that it’s 2024 and this is at stake,” Ms Gambardella said.
“I didn’t have the opportunity to take my own health care in my own state. The idea of being pregnant under a Donald Trump presidency, which is what it would be for me at this stage, is terrifying.”
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Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris, right, on a visit to Arizona in June. Pic: Reuters
The Democratic Party is using abortion rights as a rallying cry.
In a state like Arizona, where polling shows the race for the presidency is on a knife edge, reproductive rights could hold the sway.
I joined Democratic state representative Quanta Crews as she canvassed in a suburb of Phoenix.
The sun was setting on a blisteringly hot day and children were playing in front gardens as she went door to door.
“I’m here to talk to you about abortion access,” she says, “just making sure you know early voting has started”.
Ms Crews is a black woman and a Methodist minister but has been campaigning to protect abortion access.
“When I talk to the voters about the 1864 abortion ban I share with them that in 1864, I would have been considered not a person,” she said.
“That makes it real for them because this is very dangerous. We can’t afford to go back.”
Donald Trump has said he is considering “taking away” the US citizenship of actress and comedian Rosie O’Donnell, despite a Supreme Court ruling that expressly prohibits a government from doing so.
In a post on Truth Social on Saturday, the US president said: “Because of the fact that Rosie O’Donnell is not in the best interests of our Great Country, I am giving serious consideration to taking away her Citizenship.”
He also labelled O’Donnell, who has moved to Ireland, as a “threat to humanity” and said she should “remain in the wonderful country of Ireland, if they want her”.
O’Donnell responded on Instagram by posting a photograph of Mr Trump with Jeffrey Epstein.
“You are everything that is wrong with America and I’m everything you hate about what’s still right with it,” she wrote in the caption.
“I’m not yours to silence. I never was.”
Rosie O’Donnell moved to Ireland after Donald Trump secured a second term. Pic: AP
O’Donnell moved to Ireland with her 12-year-old son in January after Mr Trump had secured a second term.
She has said she’s in the process of obtaining Irish citizenship based on family lineage and that she would only return to the US “when it is safe for all citizens to have equal rights there in America”.
O’Donnell and the US president have criticised each other publicly for years, in an often-bitter back-and-forth that predates Mr Trump’s move into politics.
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This is just the latest threat by the president to revoke the citizenship of someone he has disagreed with, most recently his former ally Elon Musk.
But the two situations are different as while Musk was born in South Africa, O’Donnell was born in the US and has a constitutional right to American citizenship.
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Amanda Frost, a law professor at the University of Virginia School of Law, said the Supreme Court ruled in a 1967 case that the fourteenth amendment of the constitution prevents the government from taking away citizenship.
“The president has no authority to take away the citizenship of a native-born US citizen,” he added.
“In short, we are nation founded on the principle that the people choose the government; the government cannot choose the people.”
A farmer who fell from a greenhouse roof during an anti-immigrant raid at a licensed cannabis facility in California this week has died of his injuries.
Jaime Alanis, 57, is the first person to die as a result of Donald Trump’s Immigration Compliance and Enforcement (ICE) raids.
His niece, Yesenia Duran, posted on the fundraising site GoFundMe to say her uncle was his family’s only provider and he had been sending his earnings back to his wife and daughter in Mexico.
The United Food Workers said Mr Alanis had worked on the farm for 10 years.
“These violent and cruel federal actions terrorise American communities, disrupt the American food supply chain, threaten lives and separate families,” the union said in a recent statement on X.
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The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said it executed criminal search warrants at Glass House Farms facilities on Thursday.
Mr Alanis called family to say he was hiding and possibly fleeing agents before he fell around 30ft (9m) from the roof and broke his neck, according to information from family, hospital and government sources.
Agents arrested 200 people suspected of being in the country illegally and identified at least 10 immigrant children on the sites, the DHS said in a statement.
Mr Alanis was not among them, the agency said.
“This man was not in and has not been in CBP (Customs and Border Protection) or ICE custody,” DHS assistant secretary for public affairs Tricia McLaughlin said.
“Although he was not being pursued by law enforcement, this individual climbed up to the roof of a greenhouse and fell 30ft. CBP immediately called a medivac to the scene to get him care as quickly as possible.”
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Four US citizens were arrested during the incident for allegedly “assaulting or resisting officers”, the DHS said, and authorities were offering a $50,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of a person suspected of firing a gun at federal agents.
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In a statement, Glass House, a licensed Cannabis grower, said immigration agents had valid warrants. It said workers were detained and it is helping provide them with legal representation.
“Glass House has never knowingly violated applicable hiring practices and does not and has never employed minors,” it added.
Donald Trump has said he is considering “taking away” the US citizenship of actress and comedian Rosie O’Donnell, despite a Supreme Court ruling that expressly prohibits a government from doing so.
In a post on Truth Social on Saturday, the US president said: “Because of the fact that Rosie O’Donnell is not in the best interests of our Great Country, I am giving serious consideration to taking away her Citizenship.”
He also labelled O’Donnell, who has moved to Ireland, as a “threat to humanity” and said she should “remain in the wonderful country of Ireland, if they want her”.
O’Donnell responded on Instagram by posting a photograph of Mr Trump with Jeffrey Epstein.
“You are everything that is wrong with America and I’m everything you hate about what’s still right with it,” she wrote in the caption.
“I’m not yours to silence. I never was.”
Rosie O’Donnell moved to Ireland after Donald Trump secured a second term. Pic: AP
O’Donnell moved to Ireland with her 12-year-old son in January after Mr Trump had secured a second term.
She has said she’s in the process of obtaining Irish citizenship based on family lineage and that she would only return to the US “when it is safe for all citizens to have equal rights there in America”.
O’Donnell and the US president have criticised each other publicly for years, in an often-bitter back-and-forth that predates Mr Trump’s move into politics.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
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This is just the latest threat by the president to revoke the citizenship of someone he has disagreed with, most recently his former ally Elon Musk.
But the two situations are different as while Musk was born in South Africa, O’Donnell was born in the US and has a constitutional right to American citizenship.
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Amanda Frost, a law professor at the University of Virginia School of Law, said the Supreme Court ruled in a 1967 case that the fourteenth amendment of the constitution prevents the government from taking away citizenship.
“The president has no authority to take away the citizenship of a native-born US citizen,” he added.
“In short, we are nation founded on the principle that the people choose the government; the government cannot choose the people.”
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