Arizona pro-life agenda undeterred by pushback and an ongoing lawsuit

With Arizona’s next legislative session set to start in early January, Arizona Right to Life is diligently working with lawmakers to advance critical life-affirming legislation.

Key Takeaways:

• There are numerous challenges for the upcoming legislative cycle — pro-abortion Governor Katie Hobbs, Proposition 139 (a state constitutional amendment guaranteeing abortion rights), and a pending lawsuit — but Arizona Right to Life is committed to championing the voices of the most vulnerable. 

• Lawmakers continue to push forward 10 legislative priorities, including prenatal education in schools, prohibiting taxpayer funding of abortion, financial support for pregnancy resource centers, listing life-affirming resources on the state DHS website, and more.

The Details:

Jill Norgaard, Chairperson of AZ Right to Life, said the organization "remains resolute in combating the abortion lobby’s ongoing attempts to dismantle hard-won pro-life protections in our state,” adding:

“This year, we are working hand-in-hand with committed members of the State Legislature to advance ten new pro-life bills in the 2026 session—legislation designed to safeguard the unborn, protect children in our schools, and ensure that no woman is ever coerced into an abortion. Together with our State Representatives and Senators, we will continue defending the laws that reflect our values and protect the most vulnerable among us.”

Among the 10 bills being championed by AZ Right to life this upcoming session are two bills – one to promote prenatal development education in public schools and the other to promote life-affirming resources on the Department of Health and Safety website – which passed the Arizona House of Representatives and Senate last session, but were vetoed by Governor Katie Hobbs. 

What's Happening:

Pushback from the governor

On April 18, 2025, Governor Hobbs, stated in her letter explaining her veto of House Bill 2670, a bill regarding prenatal development education in schools, sometimes referred to as the "Baby Olivia" bill (named after the baby featured in Live Action's "Meet Baby Olivia" prenatal development video). Hobbs wrote, “The State Board of Education and schools are the appropriate entities to discuss instructional requirements, not the legislature.” The bill would have required public and charter schools to provide medically accurate prenatal development education. 

Hobbs reasons the legislature is not the correct place to implement instructional requirements for the roughly over 1 million children enrolled in Arizona public schools. However, just two months later, on June 10, Hobbs admitted, “Last year, I signed legislation expanding Holocaust education requirements in our public schools.” That bill, which is now law, requires that students are educated on genocides and the Holocaust for at least three class periods over the course of their education.  

If Governor Hobbs believes the legislature is not the “appropriate” entity to discuss instructional requirements for public schools as she stated in her veto of the prenatal development education bill, then why did she sign House Bill 2779 regarding instruction on the Holocaust and other genocides on April 10, 2024?  

Hobbs also vetoed a bill that would add life-affirming resources, such as prenatal services and abortion alternatives, to the DHS website. In response to this bill, Hobbs stated, “As long as I am governor, these attacks will continue to meet my veto pen.” 

Does Governor Hobbs believe providing women with non-abortion support such as adoption resources, free ultrasounds, free confidential counseling, and other pregnancy assistance is an attack? 

Hobbs has proven that she will do anything to defend her narrative – even at the cost of the safety and security of the women of Arizona. In her mind, “Any bill attacking the right to safe and legal abortion access will be vetoed without hesitation.”

Yet neither of these bills were an attack on abortion access, and they will be introduced again in the next legislative session by Representative Rachel Keshel. 

Pending Lawsuit

In addition to pushback from the governor, several individuals and entities filed a lawsuit against the state of Arizona, claiming the current laws surrounding abortion violate the newly ratified constitutional amendment (Proposition 139), which enshrined abortion rights into the state constitution. 

Phoenix OBGYN Dr. Paul Isaacson’s lawsuit challenges remaining state laws that require ultrasounds prior to abortions and protect the preborn from death on the basis of gender, race, or fetal abnormalities. The laws in question seek to safeguard preborn children from unethical and immoral discrimination, yet the pro-abortion lobby labels them as “attacks.” 

It should not come as a surprise that abortionists like Dr. Isaacson argue killing babies on the basis of gender or race should be acceptable, since the founder of the abortion movement, Margaret Sanger, was a eugenicist. 

The Attorney General of Arizona publicly stated that he believes these laws should be considered unconstitutional. However, Arizona Senate Warren Peterson and Arizona House Speaker Steve Montenegro are leading the charge to keep these laws in place. 

The litigation surrounding this lawsuit is ongoing – but one thing is certain: removing these safeguards will inflict unethical harm on women and their preborn babies. 

What’s Next:

Despite these setbacks, Arizona Right to Life is continuing to support these 10 legislative priorities and the lawmakers carrying them to the finish line:

1. Prenatal development education in public schools 

2. Life-affirming resources on the Department of Health Safety website 

3. Prohibition of public funding of abortion 

4. Ban on partial-birth abortions 

5. Coerced criminal abortion

6. Child support for the preborn 

7. $3 million appropriation for pregnancy resource centers 

8. Ban on abortion groups in schools 

9. Ultrasound requirement before chemical abortion 

10. Celebrate Life Month

Katarina White, AZ Right to Life Legislative Liaison, told Live Action News:

"Every month in Arizona, hundreds of children are being slaughtered in the womb, and Prop 139’s extreme abortion expansion has only accelerated that reality. Our legislative response is meant to restore basic protections and demand that human dignity, not political pressure, defines our laws.

Our pro-life legislators have been more than willing to stand up in this moment, and their partnership is making it possible to push back against the new constitutional reality that treats abortion as a fundamental right." 

The Bottom Line:

Every human life is worth fighting for. No amount of pushback or legal challenges change the dignity or worth of the thousands of babies who lose their voice to the abortion industry every day. The hypocrisy and discrimination must come to an end.