Arizona governor signs abortion ban over genetic issues

PHOENIX (AP) — Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey signed a sweeping anti-abortion law Tuesday into law, outlawing the procedure if the woman only wants it because a fetus has a genetic abnormality like Down syndrome.

Doctors who perform an abortion simply because the child has a viable genetic problem could face felony charges. The proposal also includes a number of other provisions called for by anti-abortion advocates.

The measure was passed by the Republican-controlled Legislature after party-line votes against unanimous opposition from minority Democrats. The Republican governor is an anti-abortionist who has never vetoed an anti-abortion law.

Senate Bill 1457 moved through the legislature in fits and starts, stalling twice before being moved again under intense pressure from anti-abortionists on GOP lawmakers who opposed some of its provisions. Last week it finally passed both chambers.

The abortion law, as originally written, made it a crime for a doctor to perform the procedure because the fetus has a genetic abnormality such as Down syndrome, and contained a host of other provisions, including one giving unborn children all civil rights gives. Democrats call this “personhood” provision a backdoor to allow criminal charges against a woman who has an abortion.

In addition to banning abortions for genetic abnormalities and the “personhood” provision, the bill would ban the mailing of abortion-inducing drugs, allow the father or maternal grandparents of a fetus aborted due to a genetic problem to sue, and prohibit the spending of any federal funds to organizations that provide abortion treatment.

The measure also requires fetal remains to be buried or cremated, and it bans state universities from offering abortion treatments.

“There is immeasurable value in every single life – regardless of genetic makeup,” Ducey said in a statement. “We will continue to prioritize protecting the lives of our unborn children and this legislation goes a long way towards protecting real lives.”

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The bill was amended twice to address the concerns of two Republicans — one feared a woman would be forced to carry a fetus that might not survive, and a second feared a doctor’s medical decisions could be overturned by a jury could become. This amendment, supported by the GOP, also clarified that the “personality” provision does not prohibit in vitro fertilization.

Democrats issued a lengthy written rebuttal to the bill after the final amendment.

The measure was a top priority for the social conservative group Center for Arizona Policy. Its President, Cathi Herrod, regularly supports anti-abortion legislation in the legislature. National anti-abortion groups welcomed its passage.

Minutes after the governor acted, Herrod sent out a press release with the subject line “Life wins!”

“Today the Arizonans win. Arizona children who were diagnosed with a disability before birth will no longer face discrimination,” Herrod wrote in the press release. “Arizona women are assured of common sense when choosing to go on the abortion pill. Arizona taxpayers are not compelled to support abortion in public colleges and universities, and Arizona law is interpreted to value all human life.”

Abortion rights groups gathered in the Capitol on Monday, urging Ducey to veto the measure and presenting him with petitions signed by opponents of the bill.

Democrats lamented the governor’s action, including Rep. Diego Espinoza von Tolleson.

“Reg. Ducey’s decision to sign SB1457 is not hostile to life. It’s anti-families, anti-women, and anti-doctors,” Espinoza tweeted. “I am disappointed to see Arizona moving in this direction, ignoring the needs and desires of physicians, women and families for an extreme political agenda.”

Republican-controlled legislatures in Arizona and several other states — encouraged by the possibility that a more conservative U.S. Supreme Court could overturn Roe vs. Wade, the 1973 decision that found women have a constitutional right to an abortion — have Year appropriate proposals adopted could ban abortion outright. However, an Arizona proposal that does so has not moved forward.

Earlier this month, a divided federal appeals court overturned an objection to a similar law in Ohio that bans doctors from performing abortions based on a fetal diagnosis of Down syndrome.

Judges on the 6th US Circuit Court of Appeals have narrowly reversed two previous decisions that blocked enforcement of Ohio’s 2017 law. A majority of the Court of Appeals said the law does not limit a woman’s right to an abortion.

Monday’s amendment to the Arizona law also added a law intent clause that contained much of the reasoning used by the Circuit Court of Appeals in Ohio’s decision.

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