State Health Director Cara Christ is pushing ahead with new rules on the sale of fetal tissue, even though nothing in state law actually prohibits it.
Last month, Gov. Doug Ducey ordered a review of state statutes in the wake of undercover videos purporting to show Planned Parenthood employees from other states discussing the sale of fetal tissue.
Christ said she found that selling fetal tissue for profit is a crime only under federal law. The only state law on the subject makes it illegal to use any part of an aborted fetus for medical experimentation or investigation, but Christ intends to force abortion clinics to at least file reports detailing not only the final disposition of any fetal tissue, but any compensation received.
That compensation could include anything from simply covering its costs for transporting it to actually making a profit.
“We didn't have a way at the department to regulate or the ability to get getting that information and to know if it was going on,” Christ said. “So what we have turned in is changing our abortion reporting to include some of that information.”
Bryan Howard, president of Planned Parenthood Arizona, said his organization does not make fetal tissue available for any kind of research.
“It's not because we don't support it,” Howard said. “It's never been on our radar. It has been an all-consuming job just to focus on birth control and cancer screenings and the other preventive services that this state doesn't fund.”
But Howard said he needs to see the rules and what kind of new reporting burdens they would impose before deciding whether Planned Parenthood will oppose or challenge them.
Christ said she hopes to have rules in place on an emergency basis, meaning no public comment first, within weeks.