Arizona's 15-week abortion ban coming as other ban looms
A new Arizona law banning abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy takes effect Saturday, even as a judge weighs whether a pre-statehood law that outlaws nearly all abortions will be enforced
PHOENIX (AP) — A new Arizona law banning abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy takes effect Saturday as a judge weighs a request to allow a pre-statehood law that outlaws nearly all abortions to be enforced.
The 15-week law passed by the Republican-controlled Legislature and signed by GOP Gov. Doug Ducey in March was enacted in hopes the U.S. Supreme Court would pare back limits on abortion regulations. It mirrored a Mississippi law that the high court was considering at the time that cut about nine weeks off the previous threshold.
Instead, the conservative justices who hold a court majority completely overturned Roe v. Wade, the 1973 ruling that said women have a constitutional right to end a pregnancy. Now states are allowed to make all abortions illegal, and a dozen have while others have enacted new limits.
Abortion foes celebrated the 15-week ban's passage. Ducey, who signed every abortion restriction bill that reached his desk during his eight years in office, also cheered the 15-week ban.
