Planned Parenthood Arizona Has a Good Day in Court
The good news from Arizona is that the omnibus abortion bill, which was scheduled to go into effect today, will no longer have as much of a sting on women’s access to reproductive health care. Planned Parenthood was victorious in court yesterday, and an injunction will keep the bill from going into effect. Here are the parts of the bill that are currently on hold:
- Appropriately trained nurse practitioners will continue to be able to provide in clinic abortions (as well as the abortion pill). The bill would have mandated that only a doctor can perform an abortion, even though Arizona licensing guidelines for nurse practitioners allows them to perform the procedure.
- Parental consent for abortion forms signed by a parent or guardian will not have to be notarized.
- Specific information will not have to be provided by a physician face to face at least 24 hours in advance of an abortion. The 24-hour waiting period will still go into effect, and mandatory counseling must still be provided. But qualified clinic staff members can provide patients with the information, and the information can be delivered over the phone.
It really sucks for rural women in Arizona that the 24-hour waiting period will still go into effect as of today, but al least some of the other restrictions have been placed on hold.
