Pro-life, pro-marriage victories in Arizona legislature

July 17, 2009

Ron Johnson, executive director of the Arizona Catholic Conference (ACC), says that the Church has had recent legislative success in defending marriage, the sanctity of life, and educational choice, among other issues.

“Many hot issues were debated at the Legislature this year, but none more so than the effort to place a referendum on the November ballot defining marriage as the union of one man and one woman,” Johnson said. “Arizona currently has a statute defining marriage as the union of one man and one woman. Nonetheless, without a provision in the Arizona Constitution defining marriage, a future Arizona Supreme Court could overturn this statute as was recently done in California.”

“Working closely with the Center for Arizona Policy and a number of key legislators, the ACC diligently pursued this matter all session long,” he added. “Thankfully, the Legislature approved the measure on the last night of the session thereby allowing Arizona voters to ultimately decide this important issue.”

Johnson added:

“A serious effort to force healthcare providers to participate in the taking of innocent human life through the provision and/or referral of abortifacients (i.e., emergency contraception) was once again introduced this year. Fortunately, however, the ACC was able to defeat this bill as well as another attempt to legalize assisted suicide.”

“Arizona has become a real leader in terms of school choice legislation by virtue of the many bills we have passed on this topic in recent years. Fortunately, efforts to eliminate the tuition tax credits for both individuals and corporations were easily defeated, including a late session floor amendment.”

 

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Further information:

• Arizona Catholic Conference 2008 Legislative Session Final Update (Diocese of Phoenix)
• "Extraordinary" Arizona Legislative Session Witnesses Pro-life Victories (EWTN)