Friday, April 13, 2012
Lawmakers in Arizona have passed legislation that would radically redefine when life begins for an unborn child.
A State Senate amendment to the bill, H.B. 2036, states that a fetus’ life starts not at conception, but up to two weeks before then—“from the first day of the last menstrual period of the pregnant woman.”
The controversial language is part of a plan seeking to ban abortions after a fetus is 20 weeks old. Abortion-rights advocates say the new definition would essentially make the prohibition take effect at 18 weeks, not 20 weeks.
The bill has passed both houses of the Arizona state legislature and awaits the signature of Republican Gov. Jan Brewer to become law.
-Noel Brinkerhoff, David Wallechinsky
To Learn More:
Arizona Outdoes Everyone With New Anti-Abortion Bill (by Kate Sheppard, Mother Jones)
HB 2036 – Abortion Procedures; Informed Consent; Requirements (page 8, Arizona Senate) (pdf)
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