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HB2074 - 572R - H Ver
House Engrossed
partial-birth
abortions; mandatory reporting
State of Arizona
House of Representatives
Fifty-seventh Legislature
Second Regular Session
2026
HOUSE BILL 2074
AN
ACT
Amending section 13-3603.01, Arizona
Revised Statutes; relating to family offenses.
(TEXT OF BILL BEGINS ON NEXT PAGE)
Be it
enacted by the Legislature of the State of Arizona:
Section 1. Section 13-3603.01, Arizona Revised
Statutes, is amended to read:
START_STATUTE
13-3603.01.
Partial-birth
abortions; classification; civil action; definitions
A. Any physician who knowingly performs a partial-birth
abortion and thereby kills a human fetus is guilty of a class 6 felony and
shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than two years, or both.
B. This section does not apply to a
partial-birth abortion that is necessary to save the life of a mother
whose life is endangered by a physical disorder, physical illness or physical
injury, including a life-endangering physical condition caused by or
arising from the pregnancy itself.
C.
B.
The
father of the fetus if married to the mother at the time she receives a partial-birth
abortion procedure and the maternal grandparents of the fetus if the mother is
not at least eighteen years of age at the time of the partial-birth
abortion may bring a civil action to obtain appropriate relief unless the
pregnancy resulted from the plaintiff's criminal conduct or the plaintiff
consented to the partial-birth abortion. Relief pursuant to this
subsection includes the following:
1. Money damages for all injuries, psychological
and physical, resulting from the violation of this section.
2. Statutory damages in an amount equal to three
times the cost of the partial-birth abortion.
C. An individual who is employed by,
contracts with or volunteers in a medical facility and who has direct knowledge
that a partial-birth abortion is being performed or has been performed
shall immediately report that knowledge to the county attorney in the county
where the procedure occurs or occurred.� The report shall include all
identifying information that is known to the reporting individual regarding the
physician and medical facility involved. An individual who fails to
report as prescribed in this subsection is guilty of a class
6 felony.
D. This section shall not subject a woman upon whom
a partial-birth abortion is performed to any criminal prosecution or
civil liability.
E. A defendant who is accused of an
offense under this section may seek a hearing before the Arizona medical board
if the defendant is licensed pursuant to title 32, chapter 13 or the Arizona
board of osteopathic examiners in medicine and surgery if the defendant is
licensed pursuant to title 32, chapter 17 on whether the physician's conduct
was necessary to save the life of the mother whose life was endangered by a
physical disorder, physical illness or physical injury, including a life-endangering
physical condition caused by or arising from the pregnancy itself.� The
findings on that issue are admissible, in the court's discretion, on that issue
at the trial of the defendant.� On a motion of the defendant, the court shall,
in its discretion, delay the beginning of the trial for not more than thirty
days to permit a hearing to take place.
F.
E.
For
the purposes of this section:
1. "Partial-birth abortion" means an
abortion in which the person performing the abortion does both of the
following:
(a) Deliberately and intentionally vaginally
delivers a living fetus until, in the case of a headfirst presentation, the
entire fetal head is outside the body of the mother or, in the case of breech
presentation, any part of the fetal trunk past the naval is outside the body of
the mother for the purpose of performing an overt act that the person knows
will kill the partially delivered living fetus.
(b) Performs the overt act, other than completion of
delivery, that kills the partially delivered living fetus.
2. "Physician" means a doctor of medicine
or a doctor of osteopathy who is licensed pursuant to title 32, chapter 13 or
17 or any other individual legally authorized by this state to perform
abortions.� Any individual who is not a physician or who is not otherwise
legally authorized by this state to perform abortions but who nevertheless
directly performs a partial-birth abortion shall be subject to this
section.
END_STATUTE
Sec. 2.
Legislative intent
A. The legislature finds
that partial-birth abortion is never medically necessary to preserve the
life of a mother.� Advances in modern medicine have eliminated any circumstance
in which intentionally delivering and killing a living child partway through
birth is required to save a woman's life.� The previous exception for so-called
life of the mother cases created a false loophole, exploited by abortion
providers to disguise elective procedures as emergencies.� That exception is
therefore eliminated.
B. The legislature further
finds that accountability cannot rest solely on the physician who performs the
procedure.� A physician who commits this crime has no incentive to self-report.�
For that reason, all medical personnel, including doctors, nurses, technicians
and volunteers, who have direct knowledge of a partial-birth abortion are
required to report that information to law enforcement.� Failure to report is
itself an offense, because silence in the face of this brutality enables
lawbreaking and shields perpetrators from justice.
C. The legislature rejects
the notion that a woman should be exempt from all civil or criminal liability
in relation to a partial-birth abortion.� While compassion is due to
women in crisis, the gravity of this procedure requires a legal framework that
recognizes the reality: a child, partially delivered, is deliberately killed.�
Allowing such acts without accountability devalues the life of the
unborn child and undermines the very foundation of equal
protection under the law.