Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey on Thursday signed bills into law that would ban abortion after 15 weeks, ban sex reassignment surgery for those under 18 and ban transgender students from playing sports with the gender they identify with.
The law, which has banned abortions for the past 15 weeks, also penalizes doctors who break the law, as they face criminal charges and possible suspension of their licenses.
Legislation targeting abortion and transgender rights has been popular with the conservative base in states where Republicans dominate, but could be politically risky in a battleground state where Democrats have made significant strides.
Arizona’s abortion legislation mirrors a Mississippi law currently under review by the nation’s Supreme Court. The bill specifically states that it will not overrule a state law that has been in place for more than 100 years that would ban abortion outright if the Supreme Court ruled Roe v. Wade, overturns the 1973 case that legislated abortion rights.
“In Arizona, we know that every life has immeasurable value — including life unborn,” said Gov. Ducey, a Republican. “I think it’s every state’s responsibility to protect them.”
Arizona Republican Gov. Doug Ducey delivers his state address Monday, January 10, 2022 at the Arizona Capitol in Phoenix
Arizona Republican Rep. Nancy Barto (pictured) wrote two of the three bills Ducey signed into law
Ducey is an anti-abortion advocate who has signed into office every anti-abortion law that has reached his desk since taking office in 2015. Late last year he said he hoped the Supreme Court would overturn the Roe decision.
Florida lawmakers earlier this month passed a similar 15-week abortion ban that Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis is expected to sign into law.
Other states are considering similar bans or passing versions of a ban passed in Texas last year banning abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy that the Supreme Court has declined to block.
The president of the Planned Parenthood Advocates of Arizona called the 15-week ban just the latest in a series of “relentless attacks” on a woman’s right to vote by Arizona Republicans.
But Sen. Nancy Barto, the Republican sponsor of the bill, has said she hopes the Supreme Court upholds Mississippi’s law banning abortion after 15 weeks.
“The state has a duty to protect life, and that’s what this bill is about,” Barto said during last month’s Senate debate.
Arizona House Speaker Rusty Bowers supports bill banning trans girls from sports. “I will not stop fighting for women. I will not stop advocating for women. I will not stop speaking for women. Especially my daughters who wanted to win,” Bowers said of his support for the law
Protesters march in Phoenix against an abortion law that critics say would criminalize doctors. Ducey signed the law into law in April 2021
Meanwhile, Arizona joins a dozen other states in restricting transgender girls’ participation in sports and becomes the third state to attempt to restrict health care for transgender teens.
Up until two years ago, no state had passed a law regulating gender-biased youth sports. But the issue has taken center stage in Republican-led statehouses since the Idaho legislature passed the nation’s first sports participation law in 2020. This law is now blocked in court along with another in West Virginia.
Republicans have said that banning transgender athletes from girls’ sports teams would protect the integrity of women’s sports and have claimed that trans athletes have an advantage. Ducey echoed this sentiment in his signing statement.
“The reason is simple and common sense — this is a decision that will dramatically affect the rest of a person’s life, including that person’s ability to become a biological parent later in life,” Ducey said.
He also authored a bill that would require all public schools and private schools that compete against them to “name their interscholastic athletics teams explicitly based on the biological sex of the participating students.”
“Every young Arizona athlete should have the opportunity to participate in extracurricular activities that give them a sense of belonging and allow them to grow and thrive,” he said of the bill.
Similar bills were signed into law by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in recent weeks
The Arizona House of Representatives convenes during a legislative session
Many point to transgender collegiate swimmer Lia Thomas, who won a singles title at the NCAA Women’s Division I Swimming and Diving Championship last week.
But there are few trans athletes in Arizona schools. According to the Arizona Interscholastic Association, about 16 trans athletes out of about 170,000 high school athletes in the state have received special permits to play on teams matching their gender identity since 2017.
Critics said the legislation is dehumanizing trans youth to address a problem that has not previously been a problem. Only 16 transgender high school athletes have received an exemption to play on the team matching their gender identity in the past five years. They said healthcare decisions should be left to trans children, their parents and their healthcare providers.
“We are talking about legalizing bullying against children who are already struggling to make ends meet,” said Democratic MP Kelli Butler last week during the House debate on the Sports Bill.
The Republican governors of Utah and Indiana this week vetoed bills banning transgender girls from girls’ sports, calling the problem virtually non-existent in their states. Utah Republican lawmakers overruled the governor’s veto Friday, and Indiana lawmakers were considering doing the same.