After new attack on reproductive freedom, NARAL urges Arizona governor to veto limits to charitable giving

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 30, 2016

Dangerous New Law Would Limit Arizona Citizens’ Ability to Make Charitable Donations. Governor Must Deal With Another Bill Made Moot By Today’s FDA Guidance.

A new anti-choice measure has made its way to the desk of anti-choice Arizona Governor Doug Ducey. NARAL Pro-Choice America urged the governor to veto the legislation, which represents a new type of anti-choice attack that limits the ability of private citizens to make certain types of charitable donations. The legislation, SB 1485, would bar public university employees in Arizona from making charitable payroll donations to organizations that provide abortion—an unprecedented overreach into Arizonans’ ability to choose where and how they spend their own, private salaries.

In a joint letter to Governor Ducey, NARAL Pro-Choice America president Ilyse Hogue and NARAL Pro-Choice Arizona executive director Kat Sabine condemned S.B. 1485:

“The bill is especially troubling because it lets politicians dictate how individuals can spend their own, personal salaries,” wrote Hogue and Sabine. “If such a policy is acceptable, does that mean politicians can impose their values over public employees in other realms? Should lawmakers be able to ban public employees from receiving services from certain organizations or prohibit them from putting out lawn signs to support certain causes? After all, those would be paid for with their salaries as well. The logic behind this bill is both nonsensical and deeply troubling.”

Hogue and Sabine also urged the governor to veto SB 1324, a law intended to make medication abortion inaccessible in Arizona. The proposal, which would have forced doctors to use an outdated regimen for the abortion medication mifepristone, has been made moot by new regulations approved this morning by the Food and Drug Administration. Because the new guidelines adhere to the common usage for medication abortion today, the intent of the SB 1324 has essentially been invalidated. In 2014, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit struck down a similar measure, stating in the opinion that the state’s justification for the restrictions were “non-existent.”

Governor Ducey has 5 days to either sign or veto the bills after they reach his desk.

To read Hogue and Sabine’s letter to Governor Ducey, click here.

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