Arizona senators sent a clear message today with their passage of SB 1457 – Life is an Arizona value worthy of protection. They told women their safety is more important than the abortion industry’s bottom line, and they told taxpayers their money won’t fund abortions.

The full Senate passed the pro-life bill along party lines, 16-14, sending it to the House for consideration. I applaud Senator Nancy Barto (LD 15) for sponsoring this commonsense legislation and the senators who voted for it because preborn babies who happen to have Down syndrome deserve a chance at life, women deserve critical medical attention if they take the abortion pill, and Arizona taxpayers shouldn’t have to subsidize the abortion industry.

If House members also pass SB 1457, women won’t have to worry about being left alone with a mail-in, do-it-yourself abortion pill. Reports indicate the chemical abortion pill is four times more dangerous than a surgical abortion, leaving women at risk of bleeding to death, among other things. This bill would ensure the abortion pill could not be sent through the mail, circumventing safety regulations, including doctor visits.

The bill also prohibits abortions based on the preborn baby’s diagnosis of a genetic abnormality like Down syndrome, and it establishes that Arizona laws will be interpreted in the context of valuing all human life. It requires respectful burial or cremation of aborted remains, and it repeals the pre-Roe law punishing women who get abortions.

SB 1457 clarifies the values of Arizona and ensures commonsense regulations on abortion remain intact. I will keep you informed of the bill’s progress as it moves through the House on its way to Governor Ducey’s desk.