Cathi Herrod of the Center for Arizona Policy says one of the latest examples is the Phoenix City Council voting 6-2 to pass a resolution that tells police to deemphasize investigations into violations of the state's abortion laws.
Live Action reports that Resolution 22069 was introduced on October 11 at a special meeting scheduled by the mayor. It declares the "council's support for the rights of pregnant persons in the city to obtain access to the full spectrum of reproductive health care, including abortion care."
In opposition to the Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization decision, as well as the state laws that limit or deny access to abortion care, the resolution essentially directs the state legislature to repeal any measures passed and signed into law that limit or deny the termination of babies in the womb and to pass new initiatives that will guarantee abortion in the law.
"If they are allowed to do this now, what other laws do they disagree with that they can just say, 'Hey, we're not going to investigate that,'" Herrod poses. "There's no more rule of law at that point."
A law banning abortion except in cases to save the life of the mother is on hold while it makes its way through the court system. Meanwhile, one candidate for statewide office and another for county have been upfront about their plans to ignore the life-protecting laws.
"Right now there's a 15-week ban (Senate Bill 1164), and that went into effect in September," Herron notes. "That is the law of the land, and that's not even good enough for them. That's late-term abortion, and they are defying that law."
According to City Attorney Cris Meyer, the city cannot decriminalize abortions in Phoenix or use public funds to facilitate an abortion. He did note, however, that the city's police chief has discretion on what laws to enforce and prioritize.
A new low
In neighboring Nevada, the Democratically-aligned House Majority PAC has released a political ad featuring Dr. Adam Levy, an abortionist on staff at the Birth Control Care Center and a medical school educator, against Republican congressional candidate April Becker, who is strongly pro-life.
Melissa Clement of Nevada Right to Life finds it especially interesting that at the end of the ad, Levy claims, "April Becker is a dangerous threat to the women of Nevada."
"He's botched several abortions, he's had malpractice suits against him, and in 1998, he was charged with sexually assaulting a minor under the age of 16 and performing lewd, lascivious acts with a child under the age of 14," she relays. "Quite honestly, when I read the documents, as a mother, it made me so upset."
One of his victims suffered a perforated uterus and died following the botched abortion. Levy was sentenced to two years' probation and a sex offender program. He was also ordered to not have any contact with his victims and banned from possessing porn and child porn.
But considering that Democrats have made abortion a key election issue, Clement says the ad is not surprising.
"It's particularly craven that Democrats in Nevada and the Democrat Congressional Committee are going after such an outstanding woman as April Becker, and they're doing so with a mouthpiece that allegedly did a lot of really bad things," she submits.
But Clement does not believe the public is buying into the ad.
The congressional race so far is considered a toss-up between Becker and Democrat Susie Lee.
