AZ Egg Donor Informed Consent Bill Vetoed

Excerpts from:
Matthew Benson and Karissa Marcum
The Arizona Republic Jun. 29, 2006 12:00 AM

Gov. Janet Napolitano put an exclamation point on a contentious legislative session by vetoing 9 more bills Wednesday, including a measure requiringinformed consent for women considering donating their eggs. The measure threatened doctors with suspension or revocation of their licenses if they were found to have not properly informed patients of the risks of egg donation prior to performing the procedure.

In a letter explaining her veto,Napolitano called the measure "yet another attempt by the Legislature to inject politics into the medical advice a health care provider gives to a patient."Her decision was cheered by Sean Tipton, director of public affairs for theAmerican Society of Reproductive Medicine. Tipton said informed consent already is the standard for egg donation and called the measure "a proposed solution in search of a problem that doesn't exist."

But Cathi Herrod, interim president of the Center for Arizona Policy, saidthe proposal was "simple legislation intended to bring informed consent towomen who are donating or selling their eggs. It's unfortunate that ourstate is not supporting women."

In addition to the human-egg bill, Republicans sent Napolitano 5 abortionand "sanctity of life" measures this session, including one to prohibit the sale of human eggs. She rejected each.