This week AUL filed a brief on behalf of national medical organizations, including the Association of American Physicians & Surgeons (AAPS), supporting Arizona’s law limiting abortion at and after 20 weeks gestation.
In 2012, the State of Arizona became the first state to enact AUL’s “Women’s Health Protection Act,” a limitation on abortion at/after 20 weeks gestation based on the risk to women and the pain felt by an unborn child. Abortion providers challenged the law in federal court.
In July 2012, the federal district court denied the plaintiffs’ motions to enjoin the law, and ruled that it is a constitutional limitation on abortion. The court cited findings from the law (provided to the state by AUL) related to the risk to maternal health at/after 20 weeks. The plaintiff-abortion providers then appealed to the Ninth Circuit, which entered an injunction pending the appeal.
In addition to AAPS, AUL filed the amicus curiae brief on behalf of American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists, Christian Medical & Dental Associations, Catholic Medical Association, Physicians for Life, and National Association of Pro-Life Nurses. The brief, available here, demonstrates that risks to maternal health from abortion significantly increase at/after 20 weeks gestation; as such, the state acted within its proper discretion in enacting a law that works to protect women from the harms of abortion.
