The legislation was introduced Tuesday in the dash to pass a state budget by the end of this week.

PHOENIX — Editor's Note: In the above video from earlier this month Team 12's Brahm Resnik verified what would happen in Arizona if Roe v. Wade were overturned.

When I asked Cathi Herrod last week whether she was going to push any anti-abortion bills through the Legislature in the final days of this session, she responded: "You never know - stay tuned."

It's time to tune in.

Herrod, the architect of more than a dozen anti-abortion laws in Arizona over the last decade, is backing new legislation that would spend $7.5 million in taxpayer money over three years on a statewide anti-abortion program that could include a hotline and women's crisis centers.

The legislation - SB1547 in the Senate and the identical HB2759 in the House - was introduced Tuesday in the dash to pass a state budget by the end of this week, before the Memorial Day weekend.

The House bill is being heard Wednesday by the Appropriations Committee. All 31 Republican House members have signed on as bill sponsors.

The Senate version will be heard Wednesday or Thursday. Just six of the 17 Republican senators are a sponsor on the bill in that chamber, a potential sign of trouble gaining passage.

The likely beneficiary of the money, according to lawmakers briefed on the plan, is a Texas-based anti-abortion organization, Human Coalition. The Better Business Bureau's charity-rating site rates the nonprofit as falling short of its performance standards.

Human Coalition's web site shows the non-profit runs what it calls a "pro-life, holistic, comprehensive care network" in several cities that includes crisis pregnancy centers.

The organization hasn't responded to a request for comment.

Herrod said in a text message Wednesday morning that the organization receiving the money "will depend on the grant-making process."

In a tweet later in the day, Herrod said the program "is far more than a 'hotline.'"

"The program will reach women that often are unaware of services available to them or do not know how to access them. Care providers interact with the women they are helping."

The legislation would direct the Arizona Department of Health Services to distribute the money - $2.5 million a year in each of the next three years:

"Directs DHS to distribute the appropriated monies in each FY to a nonprofit organization to implement a statewide system to provide direct services, support services and social services, case management and referrals to parents of children under the age of two, including unborn children."

The back story on the legislation is a battle to kill the state's 211 crisis response line because it answered a handful of calls from people seeking information about abortion.

The line's $2.6 million in state funding was eliminated during the Great Recession.

Herrod opposed an attempt during the current session to restore $1.5 million. She said she wanted an amendment to ensure taxpayer dollars were not used to promote abortion.

Herrod's Center for Arizona Policy emailed this alert to supporters Wednesday morning about the new anti-abortion legislation:

"These identical bills provide funding for a statewide system to encourage healthy childbirth, support childbirth as an alternative to abortion, promote family formation, aid successful parenting, and increase families' economic self-sufficiency.