Senate Republicans Advance Medical Safeguards for Emerging Stem Cell Treatments
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, February 18, 2026
PHOENIX, ARIZONA— Arizona lawmakers are taking action to strengthen patient protections and expand safe access to regenerative medicine today as SB 1214 advances out of the Senate Health & Human Services Committee, establishing clear medical standards and safeguards for stem cell and birth tissue therapies. Every Senate Democrat voted no.
Sponsored by former Senate Majority Leader Jane Shamp, SB 1214 builds on Arizona's leadership as a 'Right to Try' state by setting consistent regulations for emerging therapies while ensuring patients understand what treatments they are receiving and how those therapies are sourced and administered.
SB 1214 allows physicians to provide certain stem cell and birth tissue therapies within their lawful scope of practice while requiring strict sourcing, informed consent, transparency in advertising, and compliance with nationally recognized accreditation and manufacturing standards.
Supporters emphasized during testimony that the bill is rooted in establishing a medical standard of care, not politics, as regenerative medicine continues to grow and patients increasingly seek alternatives for chronic pain, orthopedic injuries, and wound care.
"When Arizona patients pursue innovative therapies, they deserve to know treatments are being delivered safely and responsibly," said Senator Jane Shamp. "This legislation puts medical guardrails in place, strengthens transparency, and helps ensure bad actors cannot take advantage of vulnerable people searching for hope. We are promoting access to therapies while making sure patients know they are receiving care that meets recognized medical standards."
Medical experts told lawmakers that properly sourced afterbirth tissue, collected following healthy deliveries under controlled conditions, represents the accepted clinical approach in regenerative medicine.
"The standard of care is to have a preplanned C-section so that you can get the most out of that tissue," said healthcare policy expert Brigham Buehler. "So, healthy birth, healthy mother, pre-planned C-section is how they collect this discarded afterbirth tissue to avoid any cross contaminants. Those tissues, when applied appropriately into the right patient under the right standards of care, can be life changing. I've seen it impact soldiers who come back from war. I have seen it impact patients with Alzheimer's, dementia. We've helped orthopedic injuries, knees, shoulders, elbows, soft tissue. The beauty of these products is they're healing you from within."
"We don't use aborted tissue, not from a political point of view, but from a medical point of view," said Dr. Pradeep Albert. "Placenta tissue contains DNA from both the mother and the father, which helps regenerate soft tissue. There is no country on the planet that uses aborted tissue for regenerative stem cell therapies, like injections into joints, because it can cause tumors and other serious problems."
SB 1214 now heads to the Senate floor for consideration.
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For more information, contact:
Kim Quintero
Director of Communications | Arizona State Senate Republican Caucus