Arizona Bill Expands Religious Protection Law, Abortion Clinics Fear Limits on Protest Response

Senate Majority Leader Files HB 4117 to Criminalize Disruption of Religious Services

PHOENIX — Senate Majority Leader John Kavanagh, R-Fountain Hills, filed HB 4117 this week to expand protections for religious services and activities, but abortion clinics are raising concerns that the measure could limit their ability to manage protesters outside their doors.

Under the bill, intentionally disrupting a religious service or activity could result in a misdemeanor or felony charge. The proposal defines places of religious worship not just as established religious buildings, but as any location where people regularly assemble for religious service or activity, including public sidewalks outside clinics.

Kelley Dupps, director of external relations for Planned Parenthood Arizona, said the expansion to "religious activities" would cover places like clinic doorways where protesters regularly pray or read from the Bible during demonstrations.

"This bill expands to not just services, but religious activities. And not just in a church or a mosque or a building or a temple, but it is expanded to places where people regularly show up to have religious services or activities, which in our mind is right outside our clinic doors," Dupps said.

The bill specifically states that intentionally disrupting a religious service could lead to class 1 misdemeanor charges carrying up to six months in jail, $2,500 in fines, or three years of probation. The penalties increase to a class 6 felony if there is a previous conviction for disrupting services, multiple people involved, or use of force and intimidation.

Sarah Kader, deputy director of the Anti-Defamation League's Desert Region, said the intent is to have narrowly tailored language that protects people attending religious services from those who want to intentionally interfere. She noted that protests at places of worship have increased over the past few years in Arizona.

"We have seen protests that are prohibiting people from safely entering their places of worship and being able to participate in their religious services," Kader said. "Peaceful protest remains a protected constitutional right. We are just trying to make sure people that are trying to enter their place of worship can do so safely."

Kavanagh wrote the strike-everything amendment for HB 4117 and told the Arizona Capitol Times that reading the Bible on the street will not be considered a religious service or activity under the law.

"They are hallucinating," Kavanagh said. "If you intentionally engage in disruptive behavior in a church or a synagogue or whatever, but your intent is not to disrupt the service, you are only guilty of regular disorderly conduct and not this enhanced disturbing religious service."

Concerns About Police Response and Political Motives

Senator Analise Ortiz, D-Phoenix, said she has formerly worked as a Planned Parenthood clinic escort and has seen the range of people who meet outside of the clinics, from aggressive protesters to peaceful demonstrators.

She expressed concern that the bill could open the door for politically motivated charges by police and prosecutors.

"I think really what this comes down to is that if there is an interaction outside of an abortion clinic and there are people there who police determine are practicing a religious activity, that could lead to people being hit with an increase on their charge just because they were interacting with a Christian group on the sidewalk," Ortiz said. "The government should not be empowered to use the criminal justice system to go after political opponents, and this bill is a very slippery slope that opens the door for the government to be able to do that."

The bill is still being negotiated between Republican and Democratic legislators, the Anti-Defamation League, and the Governor's Office, according to Kavanagh.

At least 22 other states have introduced similar legislation during the 2025 or 2026 legislative session related to expanding protections for religious services, the Arizona Capitol Times reported.

Under federal law, the Freedom to Access Clinic Entrances Act, or FACE Act, passed in 1994, protesters at abortion clinics are required to stay on public property and cannot block entrances or impede people from entering or exiting clinics or religious places.

The bill defines places of religious worship as any designated location where people regularly assemble for a religious service or activity, or any public or private location when an organized religious service or activity is occurring or about to occur.

Representative Teresa Martinez, who sponsored an earlier version of the bill according to KJZZ coverage in February, said the measure aims to address increasing disruptions of religious services while protecting constitutional rights.

The language is still being refined between lawmakers and advocates to ensure it does not overreach, though concerns remain about how the law might be applied in practice outside established religious buildings.