Thank you to everyone who joined our “From Gavel to Gavel” webinar examining recent victories for Arizona families at both the state legislature and U.S. Supreme Court. We’re especially grateful to our distinguished panelists—Arizona Senate President Warren Petersen, Arizona Representative Justin Olson, CAP Policy Coordinator Ashton Allen, CAP President Peter Gentala, and Dylan Jeremiah from Family Policy Alliance—for sharing their expertise. The legislative session saw the House and Senate pass important bills supporting CAP’s fundamental principles and the U.S. Supreme Court concluded its term with a series of significant decisions that strengthen protections for life, families, and religious freedom in Arizona.

CAP Policy Coordinator Ashton Allen detailed how Governor Hobbs repeatedly chose ideology over child safety, vetoing multiple bills designed to protect vulnerable Arizonans. Senate Bills 1002 and 1003, championed by Senator John Kavanaugh, would have prevented schools from forcing children to share intimate spaces with members of the opposite sex and protected teachers from being compelled to use pronouns contradicting students’ biological sex.

Despite these setbacks, Allen highlighted that Representative Nick Kupper successfully shepherded HB2112 through both chambers with bipartisan support. “This bill goes a long way to really combat an extremely prevalent issue amongst the younger generation in America, specifically males,” Allen noted. Signed on May 7, 2025, the new law requires age-verification before accessing pornographic websites, addressing the alarming rise in pornography addiction among children.

Standing Firm for Women’s Sports

Senate President Warren Petersen spoke of his decisive action to stand for fairness for female athletes when Attorney General Kris Mayes refused to defend Arizona’s Save Women’s Sports Act.

“Speaker Toma and I intervened and defended the law. We have taken this all the way up to the U.S. Supreme Court,” Petersen told webinar attendees. With the recent Skrmetti decision upholding similar protections, he anticipates a favorable ruling as early as tomorrow, July 3rd.

Defending Life Despite Opposition

Despite Proposition 139, President Petersen described how the legislature has taken action to defend important pro-life laws.

“We have intervened,” Petersen stated, noting efforts to preserve laws preventing discriminatory abortions and defending informed consent requirements. “I’m hopeful that we can, in spite of the devastating blow of 139, still save some lives with some of these other indirect laws that we were able to pass here in Arizona,” he explained.

Protecting Taxpayers from Funding Abortion

Representative Justin Olson discussed the Supreme Court’s decision in Medina v. Planned Parenthood, which could revitalize Arizona’s 2012 law preventing taxpayer dollars from funding the abortion industry.

“This [ruling] could potentially affect the enforceability of House Bill 2800 that Governor Brewer signed into law that I introduced back in 2012,” Olson explained. The Court’s recent ruling affirms that taxpayers do not have to subsidize the multi-billion dollar abortion industry.

Historic Victory for Parental Rights

CAP President Peter Gentala highlighted the Mahmoud v. Taylor decision, calling it “the most important parental rights case in 25 years decided by the United States Supreme Court.”

The Court’s ruling delivered a resounding affirmation that parents have a constitutional right “to control the religious upbringing of their children,” Gentala explained. “This is a rights-of-parents’ moment in the United States… It’s significant that if you’re a parent out there, you’re parenting at a time when the law was just clarified for the first time in 100 years to make it very clear that you have an opt-out right in public schools.”

Washington Breakthroughs for Family Values

Dylan Jeremiah from Family Policy Alliance shared news about the “One Big Beautiful Bill”—a comprehensive budget package containing multiple policy wins that will benefit Arizona families, including defunding Planned Parenthood.

“The unity, the traction, the success that we’re seeing on the gender front, on the pro-life front, on the school choice front, on the pro-family front, on the age-verification front, is absolutely unbelievable,” Jeremiah noted.

What you can do:

• Share these victories with your church, family, and prayer groups
• Contact your legislators to thank them for standing firm on family values
• Stay informed by subscribing to CAP’s updates at azpolicy.org
• Join us in prayer for continued protection of Arizona families

For more information on these issues or to support CAP’s ongoing work, visit azpolicy.org.

Five Minutes for Families will take its annual July break. We will be back in August with more updates on issues affecting Arizona families. Enjoy your summer!