Senate to vote on abortion reporting bill today

The Arizona Senate is scheduled to vote today (March 22) on a bill to strengthen reporting requirements on abortions.

The bill, S1304, would put into law a current requirement set by Department of Health Services rules for confidential reports submitted by abortion providers. The bill also requires court reports on how many times judges bypass parental consent requirements.

Democratic Sen. Rebecca Rios of Apache Junction tried unsuccessfully to amend the bill to toughen confidentiality protections. Those included not identifying specific counties and hospitals where abortions are performed.

The Senate’s bill sponsor, Republican Linda Gray of Glendale, says there’s no need to do that because the reports are intended only for statistical purposes.