Pro-life Republicans on a House panel unanimously approved legislation that would restrict abortions, while Democrats walked out of the hearing in protest.
When the Democrats on the Health and Human Services committee left the room, the five Republicans remaining all voted in favor of the bill, H2564. It mandates women be given certain information, in person, about their unborn child and their legal rights if they keep the child.
It also allows a wide range of medical professionals to refuse to provide abortions, allows doctors and nurses to refuse to provide the “morning-after” pill, and changes the regulations for minors getting an abortion without parental consent.
The Democrats said they left the committee hearing to protest the committee’s makeup; with six Republicans — all pro-life — the Democrats said they are essentially shut out from affecting policy.
But House Speaker Kirk Adams said almost every Republican in the House is against abortion and was critical of the protest.
“It sounds like a temper tantrum. The responsible thing is to stay and state your case and vote against the bill,” he said. “That’s the kind of gamesmanship that doesn’t play well with the public or down here.”
Republican lawmakers have pushed for each of those restrictions in recent years, only to have them vetoed by former Gov. Janet Napolitano, a Democrat. But with Republican Jan Brewer taking over as governor after Napolitano joined the Obama administration, abortion opponents are hopeful the restrictions will become law.
Brewer has not said whether she supports the legislation, but in a 2006 survey by the anti-abortion Center for Arizona Policy, she said she opposed abortion except to save the life of the mother.