The issue of abortion has never before been so much at the center of a presidential election in the US, as this year’s election is the first to be held after the country’s Supreme Court struck down the protection of this right for women at the federal level.

Irma, the receptionist at Acacia Women’s Center in Phoenix, Arizona, repeats a message she gives dozens of times a week to different women before their appointments.

“We’re going to do the procedure, so you need to prepare,” she says, “arrive early, wear little to no makeup so we can check the color on your face.”

“There are protesters here, but mostly on Saturday,” he tells the women.

As Sky News reports, abortion is no longer just a private medical matter. Across the country, reproductive rights are a burning election issue.

Especially in the state of Arizona where abortion is literally on the ballot.

Signs inside and outside the clinic urge people to “vote yes on Proposition 139.” This is a special measure that, if passed, would enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution.

The ballot measure was added at the request of Arizona voters after 2 years in which reproductive rights have been hanging by a thread.

Overturning Roe v. Wade, which gave women the constitutional right of a pregnant woman to choose an abortion, “reawakened” a law that had been dormant in Arizona since 1864. That Civil War-era law prohibited all abortions even in cases of rape or incest. It has since been repealed, but fear for women’s rights remains.

“It’s horrible and women are losing their lives because of these bans,” said Kristin Gambardella, “we have to fight for them.”

Last year, at 17 weeks pregnant, Ms Gambardella, who is from Tucson, Arizona, was told by a doctor that her unborn child had fetal abnormalities.

“Our baby was guaranteed to live a short life full of pain and surgery,” she said.

Already the mother of a son, born in 2021, this was a wanted pregnancy, but Mrs. Gambardella and her husband, Dave, took it with great pain to abort.

However, Arizona law now prohibits abortion after 15 weeks, even in cases of fetal abnormalities.

The couple drove seven hours across state lines to New Mexico to have the procedure.

“On the last night of my pregnancy, I fell asleep in a strange short-term rental place in New Mexico, trying to cherish my last moments with my baby,” she said.

“I should be with my family, giving love to our little girl and grieving our loss. I was angry at my situation, but that anger turned into action.”

Ms. Gambardella is determined to tell her story in the hope that people in Arizona will mobilize to support abortion access.

He worries that, if elected, Donald Trump will seek a national abortion ban, although he has insisted that is not part of his platform.

“I didn’t have the opportunity to get health care in my own state. The idea of ​​being pregnant under the presidency of Donald Trump is terrifying.”