The Arizona state legislature, apparently unhappy with being outdone in any area of crazytown legislation, has passed a bill that would prohibit abortions after 20 weeks, require an ultrasound and a 24 hour waiting period, and place onerous restrictions on physicians who provide abortions.
The bill, H.B. 2036, had already passed the state senate 20-10, and after passing the House on Wednesday 37-22, it is now on its happy way to Jan Brewer for a signature.
Arizona joins Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Alabama, Idaho and Georgia in prohibiting abortion after 20 weeks, supposedly when the fetus begins to feel pain, though there is scant literature to support this claim. It also requires that physicians providing abortions maintain a practice within 30 miles of the abortion clinic, a move that severely encumbers doctors and limits clinics that can provide the service. (Mississippi recently passed a similar law.) These measures are part of a death-by-thousand-cuts strategy, whereby pro life legislation makes providing and obtaining an abortion so cumbersome and costly that Roe v Wade is effectively overturned.
Feministe has a good rundown of the many ways the bill disenfranchises both women and doctors, and the bad science on which the bill's authors relied. Meanwhile, much hash has been made over the bill's provision that determines the date of conception at the occurrence of the women’s last menstrual cycle before the pregnancy occurred, the "gestational age." Mother Jones argues that this could effectively shave off two weeks from the 20 week period. OB/GYN Jen Gunter disagrees with the controversy over the provision:
Pregnancy has ALWAYS been calculated from the 1rst day of the last menstrual period. Always, always, always. When we do an ultrasound, we still use that convention. Perhaps it seems odd to non-obstetrical folks, however, since the last day of the period can be inaccurate (do you use flow? spotting? one spot of blood?), as can date of ejaculation (what if you have sex 3 days in a row?), and date of ovulation (how would you know that?), and the fact that fertilization takes 24-48 hours, the 1rst date of the last menstrual period is the only accurate date. Every other state law uses the last menstrual period (as does every obstetrical textbook) because that is the way we calculate gestational age. (All emphasis hers)
Be sure to check back with PoliticOlogy, which is starting to think it should start an AbortionOlogy or CrazyStateLawsOlogy, for which state next intrudes into women's wombs.
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Related: Mississippi, Georgia Pass Insulting New Abortion Laws
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