Two Abortion-Rights Groups File Lawsuits Against Arizona Law Restricting Abortion Access

Main Category: Abortion
Also Included In: Litigation / Medical Malpractice
Article Date: 16 Sep 2009 - 3:00 PDT

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On Monday, two abortion-rights groups filed lawsuits in Arizona and federal courts in an attempt to block a new state law that imposes several restrictions on abortion, the AP/Yuma Sun reports. Planned Parenthood Arizona filed its lawsuit in Maricopa County Superior Court, while the Center for Reproductive Rights filed a separate but related lawsuit in U.S. District Court on behalf of plaintiffs that include Tucson abortion providers. Suzanne Novak, a senior staff attorney at CRR, said both groups were aware of each other's lawsuits but did not coordinate their efforts.

The suits challenge several provisions in the law, which was signed on July 13 and is scheduled to take effect on Sept. 30. Among the provisions being challenged are requirements that only physicians may perform surgical abortions, that abortion providers give patients specific information about procedures, risks and alternatives 24 hours prior to the procedure; that physicians provide the information in person; and that women are prohibited from paying for health services on the same day of the abortion consultation. The law also expanded the ability of health care workers to refuse to "facilitate" an abortion or access to emergency contraception, the AP/Sun reports.

In its suit, PPA said that the law's provisions restrict a woman's access to health care, including EC and abortion. The group also said that the 24-hour waiting period will force women to make two trips, which could result in some women being denied abortion services. The suit states, "The longer a woman is required to be away from home, work and/or school, the more difficult it is for her to explain her absence without revealing its purpose." Eve Gartner, a New York-based attorney for the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, said that the group does not object to providing women with information but "object[s] to forcing women to make that unnecessary trip to a health center and also object[s] that it has to be provided to her by a physician." PPA offers abortion services at its centers in Flagstaff, Prescott, Tucson, Yuma and the Phoenix area. According to the AP/Sun, the provision stating that only physicians can perform abortions is aimed at a nurse practitioner in Tucson who performs most abortion procedures in southern Arizona.

CRR's suit alleges violations of the U.S. Constitution and federal laws, while the PPA suit's arguments are based on state constitutional law. The AP/Sun reports that the PPA suit could lead to a groundbreaking state Supreme Court ruling on the Arizona Constitution's right-to-privacy clause, including whether it provides a right to abortion that is more protective than the U.S. Constitution as interpreted by the U.S. Supreme Court's 1973 Roe v. Wade decision. In 2003, the Arizona Supreme Court ruled 3-2 that the state constitution gives low-income women a right to public funding for abortion services to protect their health. However, the court declined to rule whether the state constitution's right-to-privacy clause also provided the right to an abortion (Davenport, AP/Yuma Sun, 9/15).

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