I hate to be the bearer of bad news, and I doubly hate being the bearer of two bad news items, but here goes: Yesterday, the Arizona Senate voted to require a 24-hour waiting period for abortions, tighten its law requiring parental approval for abortion and allow pharmacists to refuse to hand out the morning-after pill. Then, today, a federal appeals court upheld Virginia's ban on so-called partial-birth abortion. It's worth once again noting that the restriction puts all doctors who perform the standard procedure of dilation and evacuation at risk of prosecution, and could "force physicians to stop a previability abortion mid-procedure, to the jeopardy of the patient’s health and well-being," according to the Center for Reproductive Rights, which represents the plaintiffs.
I'll leave you with a statement from CRR's Stephanie Toti, who argued the case before the court: "Today’s ruling is another stunning assault on women’s reproductive rights and on the doctors who provide abortion care. Forcing doctors to compromise women’s health for the sake of a previable fetus with no potential for survival is an outrage."
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