Did you know that former Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano had to fight anti-choice legislators to protect women's health?

Former pro-choice Gov. Janet Napolitano was forced to protect women's health repeatedly from attack by Arizona's anti-choice legislature. Gov. Napolitano vetoed bills that would have imposed biased counseling and mandatory delays on women seeking abortion services, and a measure that would have allowed a broad range of entities to refuse to provide health-care services, including birth control, based on moral or religious objections.  She rejected all anti-choice measures during her time as governor.

In 2008, Gov. Napolitano vetoed two dangerous anti-choice bills - AZ H.B.2263, a parental consent measure, and AZ H.B.2769, which would have criminalized so-called "partial-birth" abortion in all cases except to save the life of the woman.  This second measure emulated the federal statute that criminalized "partial-birth" abortion and was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2003.  In her veto message, Gov. Napolitano said, "Rather than introducing more criminal penalties into the relationship between a woman and her physician, let us focus our collective efforts to remedy the root issue of unwanted pregnancies by addressing such important topics as family planning and the prevention of sexual violence against women."  After her appointment to the Department of Homeland Security, her successor, anti-choice Gov. Jan Brewer, signed into law several bills that impose new burdens a woman’s right to choose. 

In their attempts to chip away at our constitutional right to privacy, anti-choice lawmakers continue to push bills restricting access to abortion, while opposing commonsense prevention measures that could reduce the need for abortion.  Former Gov. Napolitano is a prime example of the important role pro-choice governors play in the fight against this anti-choice extremism in state legislatures.

Howard Fischer, Two Abortion Bills Are Vetoed by Napolitano, Ariz. Daily Star, April 4, 2008;  Howard Fischer, Napolitano Vetoes 'Fetal Pain" Notification, Ariz. Daily Star, April 12, 2006 available at http://www.azstarnet.com/news/124278 (last visited Jan 5, 2007); Robbie Sherwood, Napolitano Vetoes 4th Abortion Bill This Month, The Ariz. Republic, April 26, 2006 at 7b.