Issue Position: Vindictive Law

Issue Position

What a waste of time! That's how I assess the just-concluded 2012 Legislative session. Legislative leaders are patting themselves on their backs for the budget agreement. I have different priorities but the final budget package could have been worse.

Trouble is, budget deliberations occupied very little of legislators' time. Most got the huge spending package hours before they had to vote on it.

Instead, they spent most of their time pushing useless, special-interest legislation which will do nothing to improve the lives of Arizonans. And once in a while, especially as the session ended, they pushed bills that will actually hurt Arizonans.

To me one bill--now law--exemplifies this do-nothing-constructive Legislature. It is HB 2800. Gov. Brewer, in signing it in front of an anti-abortion group, claimed it "tightens existing state regulations and closes loopholes in order to ensure that taxpayer dollars are not used to fund abortions."

What!?? She must have been smoking some of that voter-approved medical marijuana.

The use of public money to fund abortions has been illegal for years. The prohibitions, state and federal, are so tight no group would waste its time and resources trying to circumvent them.

Gov. Brewer knows that. Tea Party legislators, who control things these days, also know this. But what galls them is Planned Parenthood continues to exist.

And that is what HB 2800 is really all about--crippling Planned Parenthood, even though the organization is never mentioned by name.

The legislation prohibits any public money from going to Planned Parenthood or other organizations which provide abortions. Abortion services account for a tiny percentage of what Planned Parenthood does. But this law says no state funds can go toward other services the organization provides--things such as cancer screenings, birth control, pap tests, STD treatment and prevention, and other preventative health services.

What's more, the law prohibits other levels of government in Arizona -- counties, cities, schools, health districts, etc.--from providing funds.

This is an evil, vindictive law. It says to women, your health issues must take a back seat to political orthodoxy. What's important to these Tea Party legislators is falling in line with Cathi Herrod and other anti-abortion zealots.

My opponent, Steve Yarbrough, lined up in lockstep with this crowd as did our district's two representatives in the House. One was a prime sponsor of the bill; the other was a co-sponsor.

Good people differ on abortion. I understand that. But this wasn't about abortion. This was about punishment.

Just remember who is being punished: Women, men and children who turn to Planned Parenthood clinics for their health needs.

A year ago, Sen. Jon Kyl claimed that abortion services account for "well over 90 percent" of what Planned Parenthood does. It was an indefensible comment. Kyl tried to walk it back with one of the most revealing public statements in American history.

An aide said the senator's comment "was not intended to be a factual statement."

HB 2800 falls into the same category. It's intended to hurt Planned Parenthood, not reflect reality.

Source