Republican Arizona governor Doug Ducey signed a bill Wednesday restricting participation in women’s sports to female athletes and another bill banning abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy.

“Today I signed S.B. 1138 and S.B. 1165, legislation to protect participation and fairness for female athletes, and to ensure that individuals undergoing irreversible gender reassignment surgery are of adult age,” Ducey wrote in a statement. “This legislation is common-sense and narrowly targeted to address these two specific issues ⁠— while ensuring that transgender individuals continue to receive the same dignity, respect and kindness as every individual in our society.”

This legislation requires all Arizona public schools, and any private schools that compete against them, to expressly designate their interscholastic athletics teams based on the biological sex of the participating students.

“S.B. 1165 creates a statewide policy to ensure that biologically female athletes at Arizona public schools, colleges, and universities have a level playing field to compete,” Ducey added. “Every young Arizona athlete should have the opportunity to participate in extracurricular activities that give them a sense of belonging and allow them to grow and thrive.”

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Oklahoma’s governor signed similar legislation Wednesday barring males from participating in women’s sports, joining the coalition of Republican-dominated states enacting measures to defend female athletic spaces from unfair competition. Florida and Texas were among the first as well as the largest GOP bastions to pass such bills. Oklahoma’s version, called the “Save Women’s Sports Act,” was spearheaded with the support of more than a dozen young female athletes including the governor’s 14-year-old daughter, Piper.

The governor also signed a bill that “prohibits a physician from performing an abortion past 15 weeks gestation, except in a medical emergency.” Doctors who provide an abortion in violation of the law, if there is no qualifying exception, “are subject to be charged with a class 6 felony and if convicted, will have their license suspended or revoked,” according to the law’s description.

“In Arizona, we know there is immeasurable value in every life — including preborn life,” Ducey said. “I believe it is each state’s responsibility to protect them.”

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