Signed by Governor Jan Brewer

Vote Smart's Synopsis:

Vote to pass a bill that redefines "partial-birth/late-term abortion" so that it is consistent with the federal definition, and establishes sentencing guidelines for those convicted of knowingly performing one.

Highlights:

-Specifies that anyone who is convicted of performing a partial-birth/late-term abortion, a class 6 felony, shall be fined or imprisoned for not more than two years, or both (Sec. 1). -Authorizes a physician who is accused of performing a partial-birth/late-term abortion to seek a hearing before the Arizona Medical Board or Arizona Board of Osteopathic Examiners in Medicine and Surgery on whether his or her conduct was necessary to save the life of the mother, and requires any trial that is scheduled to be delayed for up to thirty days to permit a hearing to take place (Sec. 1). -Defines "partial-birth abortion" as the deliberate and intentional partial vaginal delivery of a living fetus so that the entire fetal head or any part of the fetal trunk past the naval is outside of the body of the mother and is the performing of an overt act to kill the fetus, whereas existing law reads "an abortion in which the person performing the abortion partially vaginally delivers a living fetus before killing the fetus and completing the delivery" (Sec. 1).

Full Bill Text