PHOENIX (AZFamily) – A California lawmaker held a special session in downtown Phoenix on Tuesday to discuss abortion access in Arizona.

It wants to ensure that patients and doctors are insured across national borders if necessary.

Democrats are focusing on reproductive rights to encourage their base to vote in November.

California Senator Laphonza Butler says Arizona's abortion laws directly affect her state, claiming many women from states with restricted access, such as Arizona's 15-week ban, are coming across state lines in large numbers to get help.

“Research suggests that as a result of the Dobbs ruling, an additional 8,000 to 16,000 people will travel to my home state of California each year to have an abortion,” Butler said.

Butler hosted a public hearing in the Senate and invited three women, one of whom had had an abortion and the other of whom had conceived one.

“I had my first abortion when I became unexpectedly pregnant in my mid-twenties,” said Eloisa Lopez, executive director of Pro-Choice Arizona and the Arizona Abortion Fund.

Lopez said she was the mother of a toddler during a domestic violence situation.

“I had my fourth abortion last April, just before the Arizona Supreme Court announced it would uphold the 1964 ban. I am not ashamed of my decision, nor do I feel guilty,” Lopez said.

Mini Timmaraju, president of the abortion rights group Reproductive Freedom for All, is calling for federal protection of abortion.

“We basically live in a segregated society… So if I live in California, I have most of my rights and freedoms, although there is still a lot of work to be done. But if I live in my home state of Texas, I have far fewer rights and freedoms than I do in Arizona. In fact, it's practically a total ban,” Timmaraju said.

Another sensitive issue is data protection and the possibility of criminalizing the performance or receipt of an abortion.

“In addition to the fear and uncertainty about the legalities, many of my patients ultimately become afraid to enter the health care system because they don't know which doctor or nurse is writing something into their medical records and how this could potentially criminalize them in the future,” said Dr. Misha Pangasa of Fellow Physicians for Reproductive Health.

Harris was in Phoenix on Monday to campaign and speak about the criminalization of abortion.

Arizona's Family checked this out and found that abortion penalties can vary. Under Texas law, the doctor who performs the abortion is more likely to face criminal charges.

An initiative to enshrine access to abortion in our state constitution will likely be on the ballot this November.

Have you discovered a spelling or grammatical error in our story? Click here to report it.

Do you have a photo or video of a recent news story? Send it here with a short description.

All rights reserved.