Democrat Arizona state Sen. Eva Burch has announced that she is getting an abortion for a pregnancy she says is non-viable.
Sen. Burch, 43, made the bizarre announcement while speaking on the Senate floor.
“Right now the safest and most appropriate treatment for me — and the treatment that I choose — is abortion. But the laws that this legislature has passed has interfered with my ability to do that,” Burch said in her floor speech.
Burch claimed that she has had a “rough journey with fertility” and has been pregnant “many times.”
She has two living sons.
The lawmaker also revealed during her speech that she had an abortion for a “non-viable” pregnancy during her senate campaign.
The lawmaker explained that to get an abortion, she needed first to have an “invasive transvaginal ultrasound.”
“I am safe and loved and protected in my marriage but I cannot imagine how inappropriate that would be for a victim of sexual assault, or for someone who has an abusive or coercive relationship with their partner — another unwanted vaginal penetration, but this time by the state, by the people who are commissioned to protect us,” Burch said.
Abortions are prohibited after 15 weeks in Arizona.
“This legislature has failed the people of Arizona in the laws that restrict and dictate abortion and in the resources that it cuts and strangles and denies at every opportunity,” Burch said. “I truly hope that Arizonans have the opportunity to weigh in on abortion on the ballot in November.”
According to an Associated Press report, Burch previously worked as a nurse practitioner at a women’s health clinic.
Watch the full speech here:
