After refusing to have committees take up two bills that would enshrine access to contraceptives in state law, Arizona Republicans on Wednesday blocked a Hail Mary effort by Democrats to force a hearing on the legislation.
Each deemed the Right to Contraception Act, the identical bills in the state’s House and Senate that would guarantee Arizonans’ access to “any drug, device or biological product intended for use in the prevention of pregnancy,” including Plan B emergency contraceptives.
Democrats say such defenses are necessary in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court striking down Roe v. Wade, which has emboldened Republicans to take aim at a range of reproductive protections.
But Republicans, which have single-seat majorities in each chamber, have refused to assign the bills to any committees, blocking them from progressing or even having a hearing on either chamber’s floor. So on Wednesday, Democrats led a vote to amend each chamber’s rules and allow them to bring the bills to an immediate vote. Every single Republican voted against the change.
While casting her vote in favor of the rule change, Democratic state Rep. Stephanie Stahl Hamilton, sponsor of the House version of the bill, said she felt like she was out of options.
“I have been here for four sessions … and not once have any of my bills been heard in committee or reached the floor,” she said, adding, “The topic of this bill is so important that I believe it deserves a hearing. It is a topic that is relevant, it is a topic that deserves robust conversation, and it is a topic that most of the people in Arizona support.”
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