A federal appeals court has blocked the implementation of Arizona’s late-term abortion law, which was set to take effect on August 2.

 

The Center for Reproductive Rights and the American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit in July to stop the law that prohibits abortions after 20 weeks from taking effect.

 

The plaintiffs lost their case before Judge James Teilborg who ruled the law did not constitute a ban on abortion because it allowed medical-emergency abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy.

 

Upon appeal the abortion-rights advocates won a temporary hold on the law after the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals overruled Teilborg’s decision.

 

The appellate court must still conduct a full hearing on the matter, which isn’t expected to take place until the fall.

 

The U.S. Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion in 1973 essentially left it up to the states to decide when a fetus might be viable outside the womb. Arizona is among 10 states that have either adopted laws against or have legislation pending against late-term abortion, defining viability as four weeks earlier than the generally accepted 24 weeks.

-Noel Brinkerhoff

 

To Learn More:

Rights Groups File Suit Challenging Arizona Abortion Ban (by David Schwartz, Reuters)

U.S. Appeals Court Blocks Arizona's 20-Week Abortion Ban (by Paul Davenport, Associated Press)

Federal Court Upholds Arizona’s Late-Term Abortion Law (by Ezra Klein, Washington Post)