October 12, 2012

FEATURED BLOG

"Briefs in Support of Arizona's Pre-Viability Ban Show the Evolution of a Legal Challenge to Roe," Jessica Mason Pieklo, RH Reality Check: "Next month the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals will hear arguments on the constitutionality of Arizona's 20-week abortion ban," Mason Pieklo writes, adding, "What is unfolding is not the direct debate about a woman's right to terminate a pregnancy but a proxy debate on whether anti-choice science supports that right." She notes the state is arguing that "[b]ecause science has changed" since Roe v. Wade "and the court has moved away from viability as a bright-line test for banning abortions in favor of the looser 'undue burden' standard, ... Arizona's pre-viabil[i]ty ban not only meets the state's legitimate interest in protecting fetal life, it amounts to nothing more than a regulation of pre-viability [abortions] since the law provides for an emergency exception for maternal life and health" (Mason Pieklo, RH Reality Check, 10/9).