Supreme Court Refuses Abortion Restrictions in Arizona

The U.S. Supreme Court has refused to allow Arizona to enforce restrictions on medical abortions. A challenge to those rules is still being played out in lower courts. The justices have left in place a lower court ruling that blocks rules regulating where and how women can take drugs that induce abortion.

Stephanie Grisham, a spokeswoman for Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne, said the decision “effectively nullifies part of the statute.”

These rules would prohibit the use of any abortion medications after the seventh week of pregnancy instead of the ninth week. Arizona is among a number of Republican states that want to enact laws limiting abortion. The Supreme Court also blocked similar restrictions in Texas in October.

Among the parties against anti-abortion policies include Planned Parenthood. According to Planned Parenthood, medical abortion account for approximately 40 percent of abortions at its clinics. Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards has stated that it is a good sign that the courts are recognizing that such unconstitutional laws actually hurt women and also block safe access to medical care.

The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has also prevented the state from putting these rules in place in San Francisco but similar laws are in effect in North Dakota, Ohio and Texas. The Oklahoma Supreme Court has struck down the restrictions in their state.

Under these rules, women would be banned from taking the most common abortion-reducing drug, mifepristone, after the seventh week of pregnancy. Mifepristone is approved by the FDA for use through the first seven weeks of pregnancy. It is generally prescribed along with misoprostol. Clinical trials have shown the effectiveness of mifepristone in much smaller doses for two weeks longer in a pregnancy. Misoprostol can also be taken at home.

Currently, the rules in Arizona require that the drugs be taken only in the doses that have been approved by the FDA and also require that the drugs be administered only at clinics. The state of Arizona has defended these restrictions on the grounds that eight women have already died taking these drugs. However, the 9th circuit argues that the FDA had investigated those deaths and no connection was found between them and the use of the two drugs.