PHOENIX – Interior Secretary Deb Haaland is just one of many high-level Biden administration figures barnstorming in the Grand Canyon State this month as the campaign highlights the coming second anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision.
At a coffee shop in Phoenix’s mid-century modern Melrose District, Haaland brewed a speech to a group of activists, trumpeting the president alongside state Sen. Priya Sundareshan and state House Democratic Assistant Minority Leader Oscar De Los Santos.
“As President Biden always says, don’t compare him to the almighty, compare him to the alternative,” Haaland quipped.
Monday marks the second anniversary of the US Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision, which overturned Roe v. Wade and put abortion policy largely back in the hands of the states, leading to a wide variety of policies across the country.
Abortion is a rallying issue for Arizona Democrats. Still, the big question remains: Will it win over voters undecided on who to choose for president and in various down-ballot races? On the Republican side, the primary has largely been about immigration and economic policy.
Biden won the state by roughly 10,000 votes in 2020, but Trump won the state over 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.
“We want to make sure all Americans have more freedoms than their parents did,” Haaland said.
The secretary is expected to campaign with Rep. Greg Stanton on Saturday morning, as congressional Democrats have supported codifying provisions in Roe into federal law if Biden wins re-election with a united Congress. Earlier Friday, Haaland spoke with “Women for Biden-Harris” attendees in the northern Arizona city of Flagstaff.
An even bigger name will be visiting the Valley to mark Monday’s anniversary: Vice President Kamala Harris.
Harris, First Lady Jill Biden and the president have all visited Arizona in recent months. The Post reported that at an outreach event to senior citizens last week, the first lady chided those concerned about the president’s age and fitness to serve a second White House term.
Arizona became ground zero for the abortion debate in the post-Roe era, making it a natural focal point for the Biden team. There is a 15-week law on the books that bans the procedure in most circumstances after that point, but there will likely be a proposition on the November ballot asking if it should be a state constitutional right to allow abortion up until “fetal viability.” Opponents of the effort have argued the amendment’s proposed language would allow for abortions past the 23- to 25-week mark and spark other issues.
“Let’s be very clear: We have the chance this November to protect in our state Constitution our rights to reproductive freedom, but we also have to protect these rights at the national level as well. And that includes the White House,” Sundareshan said.
Arizona made headlines in the spring when the state Supreme Court ruled 4-2 to allow a near-total ban on abortion, created in 1984 and re-codified in 1977, to become enforceable over the 15-week one. After a heated few weeks at the state Capitol, the Legislature and Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs repealed the near-total ban just before the old law would have become enforceable.
If voters pass the ballot initiative, then the 15-week law, signed by Republican former Gov. Doug Ducey in early 2022, would be overridden.