‘Not the court, not the state, the people will decide our fate’

Editor’s note: This article contains mentions of rape and incest, which some readers may find disturbing to read about.

In the wake of the Arizona Supreme Court’s decision to uphold a near-total ban on abortion on Tuesday, the Flagstaff Abortion Alliance (FAA) assembled a rally outside Flagstaff City Hall on Friday. 

The 160-year-old ban predated Arizona’s statehood, in a time when women did not have the right to vote, slavery was not yet abolished and the age of consent was 10 years old.

Before Tuesday’s ruling, Arizona abortion law followed a 15-week abortion ban passed after Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022. Now, abortions are banned in almost all cases — with no exceptions for rape or incest — and could mean two to five years in prison for health care providers who perform abortions. 

Marching from campus, dozens of NAU students carried handmade signs and added their voices to the protest. Among the many signs were the phrases “Not your body, not your choice” and “I am a woman, not a womb.” 

More than 100 community members, activists and students gathered in solidarity on the City Hall lawn, holding signs opposing abortion restrictions and advocating for reproductive rights. The blare of horns from passing cars on Route 66 added to the crowd’s chants and caused waves of cheers throughout the rally.

On the other side of the main road, a few people held anti-abortion signs that stated “Let their hearts beat” and “Thank your mom for courageously choosing life.” Sporadically throughout the rally, motorists who passed the growing abortion-rights crowd spewed exhaust smoke onto the protesters.

The difference in the number of supporters on each side of Route 66 closely reflected the state’s public opinion of an outright abortion ban — with 93% of Arizona voters opposing a ban, according to a New York Times article. 

Flagstaff Abortion Alliance seeks community support

The FAA is a community-based partnership that advocates for abortion rights and reproductive healthcare. Formed in October 2021, it includes the Arizona Students Association, Coconino County Democratic Party, Indivisible Northern Arizona, Women’s March Flagstaff and the NAU chapter of Planned Parenthood Next Generation (NAU PPGen).

Junior Grace Carr, the succeeding vice president of NAU PPGen, guided the student crowd as they walked along Beaver Street to City Hall. 

“Students have always been the ones who have been outspoken and fighting and stood up for causes like they had nothing to lose, even when they did, even when their education was at stake, when their health was at stake,” Carr said.

Equipped with a megaphone, Carr led the students in chants.

Shouts of “Not the court, not the state, the people will decide our fate” were among phrases pointing to abortion justice, the separation of church and state, LGBTQ+ freedoms and reproductive rights.

Many of the protesters at the rally had personal experiences with abortions to share. Carr received an abortion and knows other people in their life who have been in a similar situation. 

“When you’re under those dire circumstances, you realize how important your freedoms really are,” Carr said. 

At the rally, FAA members spoke of their efforts to keep abortion a viable form of health care in Arizona. 

Susan Shapiro, the founder of Indivisible Northern Arizona — a grassroots, action-oriented progressive movement — thanked the students for attending.

“When I saw the students marching to join us, I started to cry because I’m very happy that you’re here and you’re expressing yourself,” Shapiro said to the crowd. “I’m also heartbroken that we have to be here today.”

Shapiro said this rally would have happened no matter the court’s ruling. 

The Democratic Party has fought to retract the 15-week ban, using the contentious issue to get people to the polls this November to vote against bans on abortion. 

The FAA encouraged people in the crowd to sign the Arizona Abortion Access Act (AAA) — a petition to amend the 1864 constitutional law and establish the right to an abortion and individual autonomy.

“We need to get people mad again, getting people to sign the petition,” Shapiro said. “We need to have an overwhelming number of petitions signed.”

The organizers look to secure double the number of signatures required — a total of 750,000 — to put abortion rights on the ballot. That way, it is “harder for the opposition to fight back,” Shapiro said. 

A judgment from the people

NAU PPGen President Zoya Page read off the names of the four justices who ruled in favor of reinstating the 1864 ban. The crowd erupted in booing and expletives after each name.

“Justice Bolick lives down the street from me back home,” Page said. “I went to school with his kids, and he came in for my career day at my elementary school. I looked up to him and trusted his best interest. 

“And now, he agreed to take away my rights to have autonomy over my own body, with no exceptions. This hurts a lot. My heart hurts.”

Justices Clint Bolick and Kathryn H. King — two of the judges who were for the ban — are up for retention come November, allowing citizens to vote on their return to office. The FAA encouraged everyone in attendance to exercise their right to vote and know who their lawmakers are.

Page said the Supreme Court’s decision is not representative of Arizona voters. 

For Joan Arrow, a Flagstaff resident and NAU alum, the ruling does not reflect the state’s values.

“I think of all of the lives that are threatened, that are complicated, that are put into harm’s way,” Arrow said. “And that’s not my Arizona. My Arizona is one that rejects rulings like these.”

NAU professor of liberal studies Corina Roche-Baron looked to her family for a reason to protest. 

“We want to have a kid,” Roche-Baron said. “I want our children to have the same rights, if not better than, my mom had. I know and love people who have had abortions, it’s health care, and it’s really frustrating we have to protest.”

Her husband, Wesley, stood beside her with a sign that read: “Hot take: women shouldn’t die.”

Carolyn Kidd, who is running for the Flagstaff Unified School District Governing Board, said politics should be taken out of the home.

“This is a decision that I think should be made in the sacredness of the family, the woman, the man, the family, the church and their god and not government,” Kidd said.

Flagstaff business owner Pete Wolff expressed frustration with the ruling not allowing abortion exceptions.

“I think what Arizona legislature’s done is crazy,” Wolff said. “Can’t have a law from 1864. In today’s world, that’s just nuts … And you’ve got to allow cases for rape and incest.”

Sparse abortion care is not new to northern Arizona

Flagstaff has not provided regular abortion services since 2022, when Roe v. Wade was overturned. People seeking abortion care in northern Arizona have to travel for it — finding clinics in the valley willing to perform the service or out-of-state providers. 

Planned Parenthoods in Colorado, New Mexico and Nevada still perform abortions and are likely to accommodate out-of-state patients. In California, clinics are prepared for an influx of out-of-state patients following the ban. 

The Guttmacher Institute, a sexual and reproductive health and rights research organization, provides a map of all United States abortion policies and access.

FAA co-founder Jasmine Viehe was another speaker at the rally. She works as the Flagstaff outreach clinical coordinator for Camelback Family Planning, an abortion care clinic in Phoenix. 

Despite the recent ruling, she said, Arizona abortion providers are staying open.

“They have no plans to close down,” Viehe told the crowd. “The providers around the state are getting together. They’re working with our state lawmakers … and they’re making a plan to stand up.”

Arizona law mandates abortion-seeking patients attend an initial day-one physician visit and wait 24 hours before getting an abortion procedure. 

In rural communities with no clinical abortion care — such as northern Arizona — these separate in-person visits create barriers, Viehe said. 

“We just have these threads of services available to us, these little tattered threads,” Viehe said. 

Arizona lawmakers proposed repealing the ban Wednesday but were blocked by Republican lawmakers. If the ban is not repealed, it will turn to the people’s vote in November dependent on the AAA amendment making it to the ballot.

“Abortions have always happened, and they always will happen,” Page said. “We will not go back. I refuse. We refuse.”

NAU PPGen offers and delivers free condoms and emergency contraception to students. The anonymous request form can be found on the club’s Linktree.

Abortion care resources can be found on Camelback Family Planning’s website. The clinic provides day-one services in Flagstaff every other Saturday. 

Reproductive health services are provided on the Planned Parenthood Arizona website.