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PHOENIX, Arizona, April 6, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Only days after Gov. Jan Brewer signed significant restrictions on abortion into law, the Arizona state Senate has sent a measure banning taxpayer funds for groups associated with abortion, or schools that train abortionists, to the governor’s desk.

Under the bill, HB 2384, any group that provides, promotes, pays for or gives referrals for abortions would be deprived of public funds or tax credits, and public universities and community colleges would be barred from using state funds or tuition money to teach medical students methods for killing unborn children.

The House-approved bill passed the Senate Tuesday 21-7, according to an AZcentral.com report.

“Arizona law is supposed to protect taxpayers from being forced to pay for the performance of abortions,” said Sen. Nancy Barto, who sponsored the bill in the upper chamber. She and House sponsor Rep. Debbie Lesko said the bill was intended to close a loophole by which tax dollars funded abortions through school money and a tax credit designed to help the working poor.

Senate President Russell Pearce and Sen. Ron Gould, both Republican, said abortion should be made illegal, according to AZcentral.

“I believe abortion should be outlawed and that some day here in the great state of Arizona we’ll actually recognize life. I want Arizona to be the state that sends that to the Supreme Court,” said Gould.

An East Valley Tribune report highlighted the bill’s potential effect upon the University of Arizona College of Medicine (UACM), where one doctor claimed that restricting training in abortion would damage the school’s credentials.

“If enacted, this proposed legislation will certainly jeopardize the accreditation of our obstetrics-gynecology residency program,’’ said UACM dean Steven Goldschmid.

Cathi Herrod, president of the Center for Arizona Policy, which crafted the legislation, said Goldschmid’s claim was bogus and that OB/GYN training at Maricopa County hospitals, where a similar ban is already in place, maintain accredited status.

Within the past week, Gov. Brewer has signed two abortion-restricting laws: one outlawing race or gender-based abortions, another prohibiting “telemed” abortions and requiring abortionists to offer women the chance to view the ultrasound of their baby.