Center for Arizona Policy and Arizona Right to Life announced opposition to Proposition 204 today due to vague and ill-defined language contained in the proposition that could allow up to $100 million of taxpayer dollars to be given to abortion providers annually.
While the proposition has been billed as an education measure, it creates a $100 million slush fund that a governor could allocate for “family stability” and “basic needs” that “lead to family stability”. These terms are not clearly defined in the proposition, leaving the door open for chief executives to use this section to funnel monies to abortion providers.
“Center for Arizona Policy typically does not get involved in tax policy. In 2010, we were neutral on the temporary one-cent sales tax. But after our legal analysis, we found that Prop 204’s vague language could be abused by future governors to subsidize an industry that ends the lives of preborn children and hurts thousands of women every day,” said Cathi Herrod, President of Center for Arizona Policy.
Herrod released an online advertisement explaining her opposition to Prop 204 today.
“Voters are getting more than they bargained for under Prop 204,” said Erik Twist, board chairman of Arizona Right to Life. “This is truly a Trojan horse. What’s being sold as an education proposal is actually a $1 billion permanent sales tax increase that could be used to finance abortion providers under the guise of funding “basic needs.”
Under section 41-113 in Prop 204, a “Family-stability and self-sufficiency fund” is created, which according to section 42-5029.02, is appropriated $100 million every year. Besides the fact that this section has nothing to do with putting more money into Arizona classrooms, the obscure language in 41-113 could be exploited by a pro-abortion Governor.
For more information, contact Aaron Baer, 602.424.2525, go to www.azpolicy.org, or www.azrtl.org.