Pro-Abortion Groups Fighting to Strike Down Arizona’s 15-Week Ban, Other Pro-Life Laws in Court

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The ACLU of Arizona filed a lawsuit last month to strike down the state’s law generally protecting women and unborn children from abortion after the fifteenth week of pregnancy.

The lawsuit underscores how pro-abortion groups are changing strategies and working incrementally to pass pro-abortion legislation and overturn state pro-life laws.

In November, pro-lifers saw three big wins and two big losses on election night. Voters defeated pro-abortion measures in Nebraska, South Dakota, and Florida, but pro-lifers lost in Missouri and Arizona.

The loss in Arizona paved the way for the ACLU to challenge Arizona’s restrictions on abortion.

In 2022 lawmakers in Arizona passed a measure prohibiting abortion after 15 weeks. The law contained exceptions for medical emergencies — including to save the life of the mother.

Data from the CDC and the Arizona Department of Health Services shows that in spite of the state’s law, there were 11,530 abortions in Arizona in 2022 and 12,888 in 2023. Most of those abortions were performed electively on healthy women carrying healthy, unborn babies.

Even though Arizona’s law allowed thousands of elective abortions, the ACLU of Arizona and other pro-abortion groups called the law “dangerous,” and campaigned for Arizona voters to enshrine “the fundamental right to abortion” in the state’s constitution.

That’s what happened when Arizona voters passed an abortion amendment in November.

In December the ACLU filed a lawsuit to strike down Arizona’s 15-week abortion law under that amendment.

In the lawsuit, the ACLU went so far as to say, “Since the [15-week] Ban took effect in 2022, it has had devastating consequences across the state—forcing many Arizonans to carry pregnancies to term and give birth against their will.”

That’s a bold claim, given how many unborn children were aborted in Arizona over the past two years.

Pro-abortion groups are using similar language and strategies in other states.

In November, Planned Parenthood filed a sweeping lawsuit challenging virtually all of Missouri’s good, pro-life laws — including basic health and safety restrictions on abortion. Planned Parenthood’s lawsuit claimed, “If left in place, the [abortion] restrictions will continue to be catastrophic for Missourians. They will either prevent care [abortion] altogether or severely delay or interfere with care [abortion].”

It’s very telling that pro-abortion groups believe it’s “dangerous” to restrict abortion to the first 15 weeks of pregnancy — or that informed-consent requirements and other basic abortion restrictions are “catastrophic.”

All of this suggests their goal is to persuade voters and lawmakers to legalize unrestricted abortion.

When the Arkansas Legislature convenes in a few days, lawmakers likely will face pressure to weaken the state’s good, pro-life laws. But groups like Planned Parenthood or the ACLU likely won’t be satisfied unless Arkansas writes unrestricted abortion into its state constitution. That’s something that lawmakers and voters alike should keep in mind.

Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.

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How Pro-Lifers in Arkansas are Helping Women Facing Unplanned Pregnancies

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On Thursday CBN News highlighted how pro-lifers in Arkansas are helping women who face unplanned pregnancies.

Family Council’s Charisse Dean sat down with CBN’s Paul Petitte to talk about how the State of Arkansas provides grant funding to pro-life pregnancy help organizations.

CBN also interviewed leaders from pregnancy resource centers and other pro-life organizations.

You can watch the news segment below.

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After Transgender Controversy, Most of SJSU Women’s Volleyball Team Ready to Change Schools

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News outlets report that most of the San Jose State University (SJSU) women’s volleyball team has entered the transfer portal following the school’s controversial decision to let a biological male play volleyball as a female.

This year SJSU won eight games by forfeit after other college volleyball teams refused to play against the school out of concern for fairness and for players’ safety on the court.

SJSU volleyball coach Melissa Batie-Smoose filed a Title IX complaint alleging the university had shown the transgender player favoritism at the expense of the female athletes on the volleyball team. The school suspended Coach Batie-Smoose indefinitely shortly afterward.

Writing at The Washington Stand, Sarah Holliday notes,

The women on SJSU’s team expressed their outrage publicly. Team captain Brook Slusser told OutKick that “everyone on the team appreciated [what Batie-Smoose did], and a lot of the girls in the locker room said how happy they were that she finally was able to speak out [on a situation] that we all knew needed to be talked about.” She added, “Melissa was that person that we felt like as long as she was there, we had someone that would stand up for us. And now there’s no one there that will. … We aren’t happy, and we don’t feel safe anymore.”

In the weeks that followed, the fight turned into a legal battle. By mid-November, a dozen concerned women filed a lawsuit against the Mountain West for what they called “violations of Title IX and of their First Amendment rights.” In particular, the players and coaches took aim at the conference’s “Transgender Participation Policy” which they claimed was designed to “chill and suppress the free speech rights of women athletes.” As Macy Petty, the legislative strategist at Concerned Women for America (CWA), previously told TWS, “The dominos are falling, and they must answer for their actions.”

We have written time and again about how women’s athletics is at risk of being erased in America.

For example, female cyclists, swimmers, powerlifters, sprinters, and others have seen their sports radically changed by men who identify and compete as women.

Letting men compete in women’s sports is unfair, and in some cases it can even be dangerous.

Fortunately, educators, policymakers, and athletic organizations are taking steps to protect women’s sports.

In 2023 the North American Grappling Association clarified its competition policy, saying biological males must compete against other men, regardless of their gender identity.

Last year the professional golf league NXXT Golf announced that only biological females would be eligible to participate in the NXXT Women’s Pro Tour.

And the NAIA college athletics association recently adopted a policy that should prevent male athletes from competing in women’s sports.

Many states — including Arkansas — have enacted laws that preserve fairness in women’s sports.

In 2021 Arkansas passed Act 461 by Sen. Missy Irvin (R — Mountain View) and Rep. Sonia Barker (R — Smackover) preventing male student athletes from competing against girls in women’s athletics at school. This good law protects fairness in women’s sports in Arkansas.

It’s worth point out that public opinion is shifting on this issue, with more Americans agreeing that athletes ought to compete according to their biological sex rather than their gender identity. 

Letting men compete in women’s sports reverses 50 years of advancements for women. In light of that, it really should not come as a shock that SJSU’s female athletes are ready to transfer to other schools.

It is essential for educators, coaches, athletes, policymakers, athletic associations, and others to stand up for fairness in women’s sports. That is something Family Council is committed to doing.

Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.

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