Arizona state Sen. Eva Burch on March 18 explained on the Senate floor why she planned to get an abortion. The Arizona state senator had struggled with fertility for years, suffering a miscarriage more than a decade ago and getting an abortion after experiencing a nonviable pregnancy in 2022. She and her husband knew there was a chance her current pregnancy would not be viable.
Her remarks highlighted the clash over abortion in Arizona, where the procedure is illegal after 15 weeks and a near-total banWhile Burch held the microphone, a few of her Democratic colleagues stood behind her in a show of support. She said she could see some GOP senators leaving the chamber. Before she was elected to the Arizona Senate, Burch spent more than a decade working as a nurse at a women’s health clinic. That background, she said in her speech, “informs the understanding that I have of my situation.”In 2022, while campaigning for the seat she holds, Burch learned that her then-pregnancy was not viable. She started to miscarry before her abortion appointment.