Arizona Leads The Way With Pro-Family Bills

I am so greatly impressed with my new home and State. I feel like I have left Egypt and have finally come into the Promise Land. I'm sure it's not perfect and has a lot of things still to fix.. but BOY are they really heading in the right direction.

PARENTAL RIGHTS, STRONGER CHILD-PREDATOR LAWS, AND OPTING OUT OF FEDERAL ABORTION MANDATES HIGHLIGHT CAP'S MOST SUCCESSFUL LEGISLATIVE SESSION TO DATE

Article from Center for Arizona Policy Website

The 2010 Legislative Session has come to an end with 12 CAP-supported bills receiving Governor Jan Brewer's signature. This marks CAP's most successful session in our 15-year history, throughout which we've led the way to see a total of 84 pro-family bills enacted into law!

We encourage you to thank Governor Brewer for standing up for timeless values by calling her office at 800.253.0883 or sending her a note through her website.

Here's an overview of how these new laws will make Arizona a better place for families:

Sanctity of Life
· Arizona led the nation by becoming the first state in the country to opt out of providing abortion coverage in any insurance exchanges offered under the new federal health care law.
· Arizona taxpayer dollars will no longer provide elective abortion insurance coverage for any government employees.
· Arizonans now will know the facts about abortion in the state as abortion providers will be required by law to report data about abortion, including physical harm to women.
· Arizona leads the nation in enacting common-sense, ethical regulations for protecting the dignity of human life that do not interfere with legitimate bio-tech research. The new laws include provisions that:
o Require informed consent before a woman donates or sells her eggs to clinics.
o Prohibit the sale of human eggs for research purposes and prohibit the sale of human embryos for any purpose.
o Prohibit human cloning, embryonic stem cell research, and the creation of human-animal hybrids.

School Choice
· Arizona's tax credit scholarship programs have been improved to provide greater accountability and to give taxpayers the information they need to make an informed decision when donating to school tuition organizations.
· Arizona children will have more opportunities to attend the schools that best meet their needs by extending the tax-credit donation deadline from December 31 to April 15.
· Arizona universities will now report how scholarships are awarded to all students whether they attend public, private, charter, or home schools.

Parental Rights
· Arizona law now recognizes the fundamental right of parents to direct the education and upbringing of their children. The new law includes provisions that:
o Require parents to provide signed, written permission for their children to participate in sex education classes.
o Protect children from mental-health treatment outside of a doctor's office without parental consent.
o Arizona schools will be required to notify parents when materials about sexuality are presented in non-sex education classes.

Child Prostitution
· Arizona law is strengthened to better protect minors that are being raped for profit. Predators seeking child prostitutes no longer will be able to avoid prosecution by claiming they did not know the age of the prostitute.

Religious Freedom
· Arizona leads the nation in enacting a state law to protect the First Amendment rights of churches to use their property for worship.

Initiative and Referendum
· Arizona's initiative and referendum process will become more transparent and accountable as state officials will be required to publicize the ballot yes/no language in a timely manner.

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