Napolitano vetoes abortion bill

Gov. Janet Napolitano vetoed a bill on Tuesday that would have required doctors who are performing abortions to tell their patients that unborn children could feel pain.

HB 2254 would have mandated that doctors performing abortions must warn women at or past their 20th week of pregnancy that the unborn child has matured enough to feel pain from the procedure.

The author of the House Bill 2254, Rep. Pam Gorman (R-6), had consistently said she wrote the measure to fully inform women about the procedure.

She said she wanted to protect women who may undergo the procedure from the undue psychological stress of learning the truth of the procedure after going through it.

Human egg bill sent to governor

The Legislature sent the governor a bill Wednesday that would ban the sale of human eggs, but only when they are to be used for cloning research.

The bill has been drastically reduced in scope, as the bill would have initially made any sale or purchase of a human eggs, regardless of the reason, a Class 6 felony. That punishment carries up to a year of jail and a fine of up to $150,000.

Stump said while his bill will allow women to sell their eggs to be used for in vitro fertilization, it will still stop women from selling their eggs for cloning research.

Napolitano sent bill that would allow public breastfeeding

A bill allowing women to breastfeed openly in public, even over the objections of private business owners, was transmitted to the governor on Wednesday.

Under current state indecent-exposure laws, a woman exposing her nipple to breastfeed her child in a public area risks being arrested if anyone present is offended.

The author of HB 2376 said the issue was too important to force women into private areas to feed their children, even if it means women breastfeeding in restaurants, shopping malls and public parks.

Bestiality bill given initial approval

The House also gave initial approval of a bill making bestiality a crime in the state of Arizona.

An amendment was added to the legislation by Rep. Ted Downing, D-Tucson, that would require the offender to undergo psychological counseling and not to reside in any household where animals are present.

The bill will be heard next week on the floor for final approval.

Parental consent abortion bill sent to Napolitano

A bill requiring that written parental consent authorizing a physician to perform an abortion on the pregnant minor be notarized was sent to the governor for her approval on Wednesday.

Current law already requires written parental consent, but the author of the legislation said some minors have circumvented the law that requires parental consent for a minor to have an abortion.

Planned parenthood opposes HB 2666, saying the bill was “”one more hurdle, one more barrier for those seeking abortion services”” and said there was no reason to believe there is fraud going on within the current system.