Arizona Governor Napolitano Vetoes Two Pro-Life Bills on Abortion Issues
Email this article
Printer friendly page
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
April 17, 2006
Phoenix, AZ (LifeNews.com) — Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano added on Monday to the list of pro-life bills she has vetoed by refusing to sign a measure to make sure taxpayer funds don’t pay for abortions for state works and another providing better enforcement of parental consent on abortions.
Napolitano claimed the measure to prohibit funding abortions through state employee health plans would "unwisely and inappropriately" restrict the actions of local government officials. She also claimed the measure is unconstitutional.
Supporters say paying for abortions through the state employee’s health care plan violates an earlier prohibition on taxpayer funds paying for abortions.
Meanwhile, the governor claimed the measure to require parental consent forms to be notarized before an abortion can be performed on a teenager would supposedly violate the privacy rights of the girls having abortions.
That measure, HB 2666, is meant to make sure that parents have actually signed off on the abortion and that the forms are not falsified. The House approved it on a 39-18 vote.
Arizona’s parental consent law was enacted in 2000 and the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld it as constitutional in 2002.
Also on Monday, the governor vetoed a measure that would have prohibited the sale of human eggs, which researcher use in human cloning and embryonic stem cell research.
Last week, Napolitano vetoed a bill that would allow women to know that an unborn baby will feel intense pain during an abortion procedure. The veto came despite researching showing that unborn children have the capacity to feel pain at least after 20 weeks of pregnancy.
In a statement about the veto, Napolitano said the bill "represents an unwarranted intrusion by politicians into the doctor-patient relationship."
The Senate signed off on the measure, HB 2554, on a 17-13 vote last week and the House previously approved the bill 36-21. There is no word yet on whether pro-life lawmakers will attempt to override her veto.
Napolitano, a Democrat, has vetoed pro-life bills before.
The governor vetoed a bill in 2004 that would have allowed women to receive information about abortion’s risks and alternatives that abortion businesses sometimes withhold from women considering abortions.
Napolitano has also vetoed a measure that would have protected pro-life pharmacists from being forced to dispense drugs that could cause abortions.
Related web sites:
Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano – https://www.governor.state.az.us
Arizona Right to Life – https://www.azrtl.org
