| (Full disclosure: I am a brand-new baby Member of the SecularAZ Board. My frequently snarky comments are in perentheticals and italics. Cross posted from the SecularAZ Newletter – sign up today to get great information like this in your email! -MDB) The first week of the Arizona 57th Legislature is on the books… and unfortunately, so is a glut of terrible bills that seem designed to harm the most vulnerable Arizonans, violate rights, and breach the wall between church and state. This social media post really sums up the bills dropped in the AZLeg so far: |
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| So many seem designed specifically for cruelty, to make already-marginalized populations suffer. As people of conscience, we must speak out against these harmful and unconstitutional bills. Be sure you’re registered for RTS (trainings in RTS use are available from CEBV.us here, and it really is VERY simple. -MDB) so you can make your voice heard. These bills will be heard in committee this week. Please take a few minutes to oppose them through RTS; if you have a few more minutes, contact the lawmakers on the appropriate committee and state your opposition. (Just try not to swear… too much. -MDB) HB2008 would prohibit libraries from joining professional organizations, violating the 1st Amendment. OPPOSE before 1/20/26. (Maybe we should instead prevent state legislators from joining ALEC? – MDB) HB2110 would allow prayer at school board and other official government meetings, violating the Establishment Clause. OPPOSE before 1/20/26. (Oops, too late on this one, but lets not flagrantly and willingly try to violate any constitutions today, maybe, folks? -MDB) HCR2003 would ban transgender youth (a very small, already-marginalized population) from playing sports and using facilities (like locker rooms) that match their gender identity. OPPOSE before 1/20/26. (Again, too late for this one, but just stop trying to get a peek at our children’s genitals, gentlemen. Schools and school boards will take care of this with no fuss, if allowed to just get on with educating our kinds, regardless of genital configurations… -MDB) HB2249 targets trans/LGBTQIA+ youth and forced educators to get parental permission before using a student’s preferred name or pronouns. Would levy heavy fines for violations and provide full access to student records, even in cases of abuse/trauma. Would impact health care privacy for youth making decisions regarding reproductive health care. OPPOSE before 1/20/26. (Too late, but really, why are you bothering our poor teachers who are just trying to do their damn jobs without your meddlesome obsession with genitals, gentlemen? -MDB) HB2074 mandates reporting of “partial birth abortions” and would levy heavy fines on medical providers. Partial birth abortions are exceedingly rare, and usually happen when a wanted pregnancy results in unexpected medical complications. Lawmakers are ignoring Arizona voters who approved Prop 139 for the express purpose of returning medical decisions, including determinations of what is medically necessary, to doctors and their patients. OPPOSE before 1/21/26. (This is just not a category that exists in obstetric medicine. Nobody is killing late term babies. Late term complications are heartbreaking events that don’t need more of your damn trama drama. My sister-in-law still visits the grave 30 years later. So kindly just fuck right off. -MDB) HB2043 is a “fetal personhood” bill that grants legal rights to fetuses, laying the groundwork to restrict IVF, contraception, and abortion. This bill is part of an overall agenda of policing and criminalizing pregnancy and healthcare decision-making. OPPOSE before 1/21/26. (Frankly, there were times in my career that I wished we had such a law, but very narrowly tailored for when a domestic abuser causes a miscarriage, but given the way legislators write this as broadly as possible to serve their own anti-woman agenda, real victims go without justice. Disgusting. -MDB) SB1099 prohibits healthcare professionals from providing gender-affirming care without first providing incorrect health information. OPPOSE before 1/21/26. (Just stop trying to tell doctors how to do their jobs, you ignorant bastards. -MDB) SB1013 is an anti-DEI bill that opens the door to claims of “reverse racism” and codifies discrimination based on orientation, religious beliefs or lack thereof, and other factors. OPPOSE before 1/21/26. (Merit-based hires only, eh? OK, but don’t say we didn’t warn you mediocre white boys that this wouldn’t workout well for you… -MDB) SB1016 increases religious exemptions, which poses a threat to public health. Would let employees file workplace religious-exemption complaints directly with the Arizona Attorney General, even though these issues are already handled under federal civil rights law. This will force the state to spend tax dollars investigating complaints, and could discourage healthcare providers from enforcing vaccine policies that protect patients. OPPOSE before 1/21/26. (Please, how many more children must die of preventable diseases before you paranoid freaks just let public health be boring again? – MDB) SB1011 requires infant deaths to be reported to CDC (which AZ already does) and requires vaccination records to be reviewed by Medical Examiners in SIDS cases (which is also already done.) This is likely to be the first step in creating a state database linking childhood vaccines to SIDS, meant to discourage vaccination. The majority of SIDS cases likely will be vaccinated, because the majority of all kids are vaccinated. Correlation does not equal causation. OPPOSE before 1/21/26. (Why are conspiracy theorists so damn lazy these days? Just put the tin foil on your head and cook up the EXISTING data into a wacky chart, already! You do know that an LLM could do this for you, right? Sigh… -MDB) HB2144 extends child support to “unborn children,” opening the door to fetal personhood and thus reproductive rights restrictions. OPPOSE before 1/21/26. (This is such a bad idea, not only for the reason stated, but do we really want to give abusive assholes ANOTHER incentive a cause an ‘accident’ leading to miscarriage? I just can’t with these people… -MDB) SB1015 Healthcare professionals/physicians who provide minors with gender transition procedures would be held personally liable for all costs associated with detransition procedures and civil actions sought within 25 years and open to civil actions. OPPOSE before 1/21/26. (Just a way to raise those doctors’ malpractice insurance rates. We see what you are doing there… -MDB) |
| (Wondering why these are all “OPPOSE”? There are good bills that would benefit Arizonans being dropped… but the AZGOP won’t let them have a hearing (because they have Dem sponsors, of course. -MDB). You can watch our SecularAZ Executive Director, Jeanne Casteen, deliver this review below: |
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