Bill Status:
Transmitted to HouseBill History
02/24/21 Passed Senate Third Read (16-14)
02/08/21 Passed Senate Rules Committee Hearing
02/03/21 Passed Senate Health and Human Services Committee Hearing (5-3)
01/25/21 Senate Second Read
01/21/21 Senate First Read
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Download Printable FactsheetEXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Many women suffer grief, regret, and depression after choosing abortion. Arizona women deserve to fully understand the options available to them if they don’t choose to parent their child, including the life-saving decision of adoption.
SB 1254 forms a task force to assist in the development of a plan to promote adoption on the Arizona Department of Health Services Website.
THE PROGRAM
Under SB 1254, the Arizona Department of Health Services will, by February 1, 2022, provide on the department’s public website home page the following easily accessible information in both English and Spanish:
- A list of public and private agencies and services available to assist a woman through pregnancy, on childbirth, and while her child is dependent. It will include each agency’s services, physical address, telephone number and website address, if available. Abortion related entities are excluded.
- Information on, and a link to, a separate featured webpage that is accessible by redirecting from the domain name adoptionoption.az.gov and that lists all of the following:
- Public and nonprofit adoption agencies that are not affiliated with an abortion provider
- Easily comprehensible first steps to assist a pregnant woman seeking to confidentially explore the option of placing her child for adoption
- Whether the adoption agency allows the woman to choose the adoptive parents
- Agencies that offer obstetric ultrasounds, free of charge
- Agencies that offer confidential counseling, free of charge to a woman considering placing her child for adoption
TALKING POINTS
1. Abortion takes a life and harms women. Adoption is a loving alternative and the state has a vested interest in promoting it for the sake of the mother, baby, and Arizonans seeking to adopt a child of their own.
2. Women faced with an unwanted pregnancy are often anxious and fearful. The option of adoption should be easily accessible, and simple to navigate.
CONCLUSION
SB 1254 calls for the state to highlight adoption as an option and provide information on adoption, making it easily accessible to women faced with unwanted pregnancy. The bill requires the Arizona Department of Health Services to provide such information on the home page of the department’s website by early 2022.