Hearings began Wednesday in a case challenging several abortion regulations in Arizona.
Arizona voters in 2024 enshrined broad abortion rights in the state constitution. Plaintiffs say the constitutional amendment should be grounds for overturning several abortion laws that remain on the books in the state, including a ban on prescribing abortion pills via telemedicine, a ban on abortions when fetal abnormalities have been diagnosed, and a mandatory 24-hour wait to get an abortion.
In Maricopa County Superior Court on Wednesday, Phoenix-based OB-GYN Dr. Paul Isaacson, one of the plaintiffs, testified that Arizona’s 24-hour waiting period is medically unnecessary and burdensome to his patients.
“Many patients are simply frustrated that they have to wait an additional day for something that they are certain they want to proceed with,” Isaacson told Judge Greg Como. “Very often patients will express difficulty in having to make more than one trip to the clinic, to take time off of work, to arrange child care.”
Two top Republican state lawmakers, House Speaker Steve Montenegro and Senate President Warren Petersen, are defending the laws as intervenors in the case.
Their attorney argued that the 24-hour waiting period is not necessarily preventing Arizonans from accessing abortion, pointing out that abortions have actually increased in Arizona since the waiting period law took effect in 2009.
Hearings in the case are scheduled to continue through Friday.
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As Congress debates extensions for subsidies for Obamacare health plans, Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes says abortion restrictions should not be part of the negotiation. -
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A trial judge has swatted down efforts by two top Republican lawmakers to quash a bid by Arizona doctors to overturn restrictions on the right of women to terminate a pregnancy. -
The attorney representing two top Arizona Republican lawmakers was in court Monday asking a judge to toss a lawsuit challenging three abortion restrictions in the state constitution.
