Judge permits limit on non-surgical abortions in Arizona

Reproductive-rights activists experienced a defeat to their cause when a federal judge allowed legislation that would limit women's access to drug-induced abortions yesterday. The ruling of US District Judge David Bury in Tucson will have the implementation of the anti-abortion law to take effect, Bloomberg said.

Interest group Planned Parenthood had sought legal action in 2012 to block a provision of the anti-abortion law, which will prohibit women to get medicinal abortions, especially the ones which use RU-486, in the eighth and ninth weeks of their pregnancies until the time the constitutionality of the legislation has been resolved.

Bury said about the ruling, "Given the ready availability of a safe alternative method of abortion, (it will be difficult for Planned Parenthood to show that Arizona's law) is a substantial obstacle to a woman's right to obtain a first trimester abortion in Arizona."

Bloomberg said that the measure was among the over 200 abortion restrictions that were passed nationwide following a statewide legislation push led by the Republicans in 2011. According to a January 2 report by the reproductive-rights advocacy organization Guttmacher Institute, additional state abortions have been introduced around that time as compared in the last decade.

In a statement, lawyer David Brown with the Center for Productive Rights had said, "This law serves no purpose other than to prevent Arizona women from using a safe alternative to surgical abortion and force their doctors to follow an outdated, riskier and less effective method. This is what happens when politicians, not doctors, practice medicine."

Abortion opponents had been seeking to topple a pillar of the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, which guaranteed women access to abortion options until the fetus is viable, Bloomberg said. The state of Arizona had earlier argued that viability, which is generally known to happen at 24 weeks of pregnancy, is not an absolute line and invoked the lawmakers' ability to ensure measures are in place to protect the woman and her unborn baby.

Tags

Arizona abortion law, Planned Parenthood, 1973 Roe v. Wade

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