Following her
veto of Senate Bill 1062, Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer reprimanded
Republican legislators for focusing on social issues instead of
“passing a responsible budget that continues Arizona’s economic
comeback.” Naturally, they responded by
immediately taking up a new piece of abortion related
legislation.
The bill, backed by the Center for Arizona Policy (the same
group that pushed SB 1062), would do away with the state health
department’s need to obtain an administrative warrant in order to
search abortion clinics, among other things. Its sponsor, state
Rep. Debbie Lesko (R-Peoria), says there’s no reason abortion
clinics shouldn’t be subjected to the same kind of surprise
inspections “that happen at Burger King and McDonald’s.”
Should the measure pass,
a lawsuit is almost certain, according to
Arizona’s Northwest Valley News. A federal appeals
court blocked a similar Arizona measure in 2004, concluding that
abortion clinics differ from other types of health facilities
because of patients’ need for an “enhanced level of privacy.”
Rep. Mark Cardenas, D-Phoenix … predicted that if this measure
is approved it will wind up back in court, with a similar result —
but only after the state spends hundreds of thousands of dollars
trying to defend the measure.When that argument failed to sway supporters, Cardenas tried a
different tactic. He offered an amendment saying that if the law is
changed and the state loses, then the cost of the legal fight
should come directly out of the budgets controlled by the House
speaker and Senate president and not from other taxpayer
dollars.
After being initially approved by the Arizona House on Thursday,
a final vote on the measure (House Bill 2284) was postponed until
next week.
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