The state's largest abortion provider is asking a judge to block new restrictions on procedure imposed by the Legislature.
Legal papers filed late Tuesday in Maricopa County Superior Court contend it is unconstitutional for lawmakers to prohibit physicians' assistants and specially trained nurse practitioners from performing abortions. Attorneys for Planned Parenthood Arizona want the court to block the law from taking effect as scheduled on July 20, allowing time for the issue to be fully litigated.
At the center of the claim is the decision by lawmakers in two separate measures to essentially redefine what constitutes an abortion.
Surgical abortions, those where a fetus has to be manually extracted, can be performed only by doctors.
But until now, state law has allowed physicians' assistants and nurse practitioners to perform medical abortions. That involves administering RU-486, a drug which subsequently induces an abortion.
Sen. Nancy Barto, R-Phoenix, said the legislation simply expands protections that already exist for women who undergo surgical abortions.
She said about half of all pregnancies are terminated through the use of RU-486, which became legal in this country only slightly more than a decade ago.
"Do we have to wait for another woman to die from an abortion to update our statutes to cover abortion by pill?" she asked colleagues during the legislative debate. "The answer is, we don't. And we shouldn't. The dangers of abortion medication are well documented."
If nothing else, Barto said a woman should have to be examined by a physician before being administered a drug.
But Planned Parenthood President Bryan Howard said the legislation is more about politics than health. He said it is designed largely to impose new restrictions on the procedure.
"This is about women accessing basic health care that has been provided safely for over a decade by nurse practitioners and physicians' assistants with no evidence, no medical evidence, that that situation needs to change," Howard said. He said there have been "no complications, no problems here in Arizona."
That's not the belief of Rep. Kimberly Yee, R-Phoenix.
"Medication abortions have very serious complications and are not a safer alternative," she said during the legislative debate. "In fact, instructions for the abortion pill say nearly all women who receive the abortion pill will report adverse reaction."
But Yee conceded on the House floor that she is in favor of doing what she can to reduce the number of abortions.
"I vowed to stand up for populations that can not otherwise speak for themselves," she said. "So this bill speaks up for the rights of the unborn, our most precious population, and for women, their health and their safety."
The most immediate effect of the law, if and when it takes effect, would be to eliminate the ability of Planned Parenthood to provide medical abortions in Flagstaff, Prescott and Yuma. Howard said his organization does not have enough trained physicians to staff those offices.
But the lawsuit said it will also create problems in the state's two major metropolitan areas, as women who otherwise would have a medical abortion at one of the satellite clinics staffed by a nurse practitioner or physicians' assistant would now have to go to where a doctor is located.
That, the attorneys said, would cause unnecessary delays. And they said any delay not only increases the medical risk but also the cost of the procedure.
Howard acknowledged that the Legislature routinely redefines what is the "scope of practice" of various medical and professional specialties. But he argued there are limits on what lawmakers can do.
He pointed out that the Arizona Constitution, unlike its federal counterpart, has a specific clause guaranteeing the right to privacy. Howard said that includes the right of women to decide their own "reproductive health" issues.
Howard said this legislation eliminates that right in rural Arizona communities, "particularly when there's no medical justification for it."
Leon Ceniceros posted at 1:53 pm on Thu, Jun 30, 2011.
The new "Medical Marijuana" Law requires a ....physcian...to examine the user and sign the prescription for the medical marijuana.
But Planned Parenthood and the Liberal, Progressives, Socialists and Democrats in the Arizona Legislature some how don't regard a woman undergoing an Abortion needs a physician.
A medical marijuana user needs a physician to buy some "pot"....but the removal of a living fetus from a woman's uterus can get by with a ..."physician's assistant" or a..."nurse practitioner" ???
FOLKS....DOES THIS ARGUMENT MAKE ANY SENSE TO YOU.
AmericanPatriot posted at 3:07 pm on Thu, Jun 30, 2011.
For a name like RationalHuman you sure do seem irrational at times. Any perceived notion of someone harboring religious beliefs and you start slinging insults. Leon's analogy makes perfect sense without even bringing God into at all. Were you molested by a priest or what?
DrJCA1 posted at 8:43 pm on Thu, Jun 30, 2011.
After 40 years in medicine, I ca speak without too much emotional or religious baggage, so here goes. First of all, the fanatics on both sides of this issue, like every issue, do not stop to look at the situation itself. They just howl about right and wrong, my way or the highway, and call each other names. It should be obvious by now to everyone, that those tactics and rhetoric gets nothing accomplished. Abortion is a very personal, emotionally painful procedure. I don't have a problem with a woman getting some counseling and advice if she is thinking about one nor do I think they should be performed just because the child will be a nuisance. A rational and individualized approach to each case is the best way to handle this issue. I have never known a female to get an abortion because she was bored on a Tuesday for example. I believe that dissuasion is a good tactic, with the information about adoption process being offered. If she still wants to go through with it, I would prefer it done in a safe environment so we don't lose two lives in the process. I guess I'd say it was the lesser of two evils.
Now for the other side of the coin - the very conservative viewpoint. If you are really so dead set against all abortions for any reason, because you are "protecting the life of those who cannot protect themselves", fine. But why don't you eve push for penalties for pregnant women who smoke, drink, or do drugs? These things can easily harm or even kill the developing embryo.
The reality is that if a woman wants one bad enough, she will get one, one way or another.
AmericanPatriot posted at 10:00 pm on Thu, Jun 30, 2011.
You make some good points DrJCA1. Personally, if I were a woman I could kill myself sooner than I could kill the life growing within me. But I'm not, and I think this is a decision only a woman can make or should make. However, some women use abortion as a form of birth control, and that is sick. If I were king, I would allow every woman their first and only free abortion. The next request for an abortion would be at a cost of either you have the baby and put it up for adoption or you are sterilized. The third request would be allowed along with a mandatory hysterectomy. End of problem.
Accuracy posted at 3:08 pm on Fri, Jul 1, 2011.
Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion provider, says it will fight in court and challenge the constitutionality of two abortion bills signed into law by Governor Jan Brewer earlier this year. Two pro-life bills slated to take effect on July 20.
1) House Bill 2416 – Provides women with the opportunity to view an ultrasound image before an abortion is performed. Updates basic health & safety standards for abortion clinics.
2) Senate Bill 1030 – Clarifies that physician assistants cannot prescribe abortion medication, the early abortion-by-pill method to end pregnancies. Important health and safety rules the state legislature approved to protect women using the dangerous abortion drug RU 486.
At least Center for Arizona Policy (CAP), and supporters of two pro-life bills, admit they were driven by opposition to abortion, and many medical risks of medication abortion.
While, Planned Parenthood’s lawsuit is proving, once again, that they are more concerned with selling abortions than protecting vulnerable women with crisis pregnancies.
The dangerous abortion drug RU 486 is responsible for the deaths of dozens of women worldwide, and it has injured at least 1,100 women in the United States alone.
AmericanPatriot posted at 1:58 pm on Sat, Jul 2, 2011.
George Orwell would have loved the name, planned parenthood. Today, over three thousand women will plan their parenthood by killing their unborn babies. In other news, president Obummer, the Nobel peace prize laureate, sent in over 300 navy peace jets to bomb peace into those Libyans who refuse to recognize our peaceful intentions to force peace on them. In between mouthfuls of congealed fat burgers, Micheal Moore was heard to say, "It's ok when us socialist do it". Republicans sponsor a national e-verify bill that would prevent states from enforcing their newly enacted e-verify laws, giving the feds more power to not enforce any immigration laws they don't like. And everyone looked up and said what?