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