She Could Be the Next Governor of Arizona, Where Her Miscarriage Is Now a Crime

As of 1977, the state’s legislature reenacted the pre-Roe, total abortion ban that recognizes fetal personhood—meaning it could criminalize miscarriage, self-managed abortion, IVF, and any behaviors that could supposedly put a fetus at risk. The legislature also confirmed that this ban remains on the books when it passed a currently active 15-week ban in March. The 15-week ban effectively prohibits the safest, most common form of abortion care in the second trimester, which is often used for unviable pregnancies and miscarriages.

Overall, there’s a pervading sense of confusion about where abortion rights stand in Arizona right now. Last month, a federal judge blocked Arizona’s pre-Roe ban primarily because of its ambiguity about when personhood begins and what charges abortion providers would face. But Brnovich has declared he intends to enforce it anyway—despite how Republican Gov. Doug Ducey has said the 15-week ban takes precedence over the pre-Roe ban.

We’re all confused, but simply put, Hobbs is right: The procedure she needed after her miscarriage “would be considered criminal” under the law Brnovich is trying to enforce. Criminalization of pregnancy outcomes has always happened even before Roe was overturned: Criminal charges for pregnancy loss and self-managed abortion literally tripled between the periods of 1973 to 2005 and 2006 to 2020. And as recent as April, a Texas woman was jailed and charged with homicide for allegedly self-managing an abortion. Other pregnant people, who were disproportionately people of color, faced criminal charges and even prison time for alleged substance use or other behaviors believed to have led to a miscarriage. Fetal personhood laws like Arizona’s are especially dangerous by rendering the pregnant person’s rights secondary to a fetus: A pregnant woman who wasn’t wearing a seatbelt and miscarried after a car accident was convicted of manslaughter in 2009. Another pregnant woman who miscarried after being shot in the stomach was also charged with manslaughter in 2019.

The Republican primary for governor has yet to be called, though the front-runners appear to be Karrin Taylor Robson and Trump-endorsed Kari Lake —both have practically been tripping over each other to call for abortion to be totally outlawed. And if they take their cues from the bans sweeping the country since the overturning of Roe, a total abortion ban in Arizona likely wouldn’t include an exception for rape.

In Hobbs’ op ed, she recalls being a social worker and running “one of the largest domestic violence shelters in the country” prior to running for office, serving in Arizona’s legislature, and eventually becoming secretary of state—while former President Trump pushed the Big Lie and subjected Hobbs and other women secretaries of state to heightened violent threats. While working with domestic violence victims, Hobbs said she “saw firsthand the devastating effects that a dangerous, traumatizing, or unplanned pregnancy can have on a woman and her family,” and “the vicious cycle that poverty and lack of access to reproductive health care create.”

“Many women I worked with were raped, forced to carry a pregnancy, forced to get an abortion, had their birth control sabotaged by their partner, or had their pregnancy jeopardized by abuse their partner inflicted,” Hobbs wrote. “These women didn’t have control of their reproductive health-care decisions, and they suffered physically, mentally, and emotionally.”

More and more elected officials and candidates are sharing their abortion stories, from lawmakers like Reps. Cori Bush and Rep. Pramila Jayapal, to Michigan Sen. Gary Peters, who shared his and his partner’s abortion story in 2020. And now, Hobbs—a woman who could be the next governor of Arizona—is running in a state with abortion laws that regard patients like her as criminals. Her election exemplifies what’s at stake for Arizonans as well as women and pregnant people across the country in our post-Roe world.