Brewer signs AZ ban on Planned Parenthood funding

PHOENIX (AP) - Gov. Jan Brewer on Friday signed into law a bill to cut off Planned Parenthood's access to taxpayer money funneled through the state for non-abortion services.

Arizona already bars use of public money for abortions except to save the life of the mother. But anti-abortion legislators and other supporters of the bill say the broader prohibition is needed to ensure no public money indirectly supports abortion services.

Planned Parenthood Arizona claims a funding ban would interrupt its preventive health care and family planning services for nearly 20,000 women served by the organization's clinics. The organization says it will consider a legal challenge.

The measure targeting funding for Planned Parenthood for non-abortion services was 1 of several approved by Arizona's Republican-led Legislature related to contentious reproductive health care issues this session.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.