For Immediate Release
Tuesday, October 4, 2022
Contact: hgoss@azdem.org
ADVISORY: Ahead of #AZSen Debate, Arizona Republican Women Cross Party Lines, Call Out Blake Masters for His Dangerous Position on Abortion
Masters Supports Nationalizing Arizona’s Newly-Reinstated Abortion Ban, Outlawing Abortion Without Exceptions, Mandating Jail Time for Providers
PHOENIX — TODAY at 9:30 am local time, a group of Arizona Republican women will hold a press conference to highlight how Blake Masters and his dangerous plan to nationalize Arizona’s newly-reinstated 1864 abortion ban is too extreme for Arizonans across the political spectrum — including for members of his own party.
Arizona women just lost the right to an abortion, but Blake Masters has said he wants to go on “offense” and further restrict Arizonans’ right to make their own health care decisions. His undeniably harmful and overwhelmingly unpopular position is so salient that women across the political spectrum are banding together to reject Masters and defend the right to safe and legal abortion.
RSVP: Please RSVP here for location information.
WHAT: Press conference of Republican women crossing party lines, opposing Blake Masters because of his extreme stance on abortion and more
WHEN: Tuesday, October 4, at 9:30 – 10:00 am MST
WHO:
Heather Carter, Former Republican State Senator
Peggy Neely, Former Republican Vice Mayor of Phoenix
Lisa Hoberg, Republican business leader
ADDITIONAL BACKGROUND:
Blake Masters supports nationalizing Arizona’s 158-year-old abortion ban:
CBS Phoenix: Just days following a Pima County judge’s decision to enforce the state’s abortion law, some state leaders are pushing back against making that measure national law. Arizona Republican nominee for US Senate Blake Masters said he would support nationalizing that ban.
Washington Post: Asked last year on One America News if he would support a national ban similar to an Arizona law dating back to the 1800s that “bans all abortions,” Masters said yes.
Masters has cemented his place as one of the nation’s most dangerous, far-right candidates when it comes to abortion, calling it “demonic” and equating it to “religious sacrifice”:
HuffPost: “I don’t think it’s enough to return it to the states,” [Masters] added. In 2021, he also called on Congress to pass a personhood law and said support for abortion rights has become “demonic” and likened it to “religious sacrifice.”
Arizona Mirror: Masters has also called abortion a “sacrificial ritual” to the left and has referred to abortion as a “genocide.” He has also campaigned on overturning the constitutional right for women to access birth control.
Arizona Republic: “The federal government needs to step in and say, ‘We recognize life here and no state can permit abortion,’” he told the crowd at a February gathering of the Queen Creek-San Tan Valley Republican Women Club. “That’s what I think playing offense on pro-life looks like.”
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