OPINION: Rep. David Schweikert’s dangerous voting record puts health-care providers at risk

For those of us working on the frontlines of healthcare, Schweikert’s record is more than just extreme—it’s dangerous.

As a registered nurse, I’ve dedicated my career to providing essential healthcare in Arizona. I work with patients facing some of the most difficult decisions of their lives, often in situations where their health and futures hang in the balance. It’s a responsibility I take seriously, and it’s one that politicians like David Schweikert make nearly impossible.

Rep. Schweikert has built a cruel anti-abortion record, consistently prioritizing his extremist ideology over the health and well-being of Arizona families. As a six-time co-sponsor of the Life at Conception Act, Schweikert has made it clear that he believes abortion should be banned nationwide—even in cases of rape, incest, or when a person’s life is in danger. This reckless bill would also ban IVF, which helps countless families struggling with infertility. When pressed on this, Schweikert’s response was a careless “I don’t know,” showing his blatant disregard for the real-world consequences of his actions.

Schweikert’s anti-abortion crusade doesn’t stop there. He voted to restrict active-duty service members’ access to reproductive care and opposed

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the Right to Contraception Act, which would safeguard the right to birth control nationwide. He even bragged to the Wall Street Journal that he would continue to vote anti-abortion in Congress, and celebrated the US Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade, which allowed for the reinstatement of an 1864 abortion ban in Arizona—a law written before women even had the right to vote.

For those of us working on the frontlines of health care, Schweikert’s record is more than just extreme—it’s dangerous. His positions force medical professionals like me into impossible situations where we are unable to provide life-saving care to our patients. We are bound by our ethical obligation to protect our patients’ lives and well-being, but Schweikert’s agenda puts us at risk of prosecution for doing our jobs.

Arizonans deserve representatives who trust women and medical professionals to make their own healthcare decisions—not someone like David Schweikert, who is more interested in pushing a radical political agenda than in protecting women’s health. His record makes it clear: Schweikert is too dangerous to keep representing Arizona women and families