Arizona legislature passes 15-week abortion ban

The Arizona legislature on Thursday passed a controversial bill banning abortions in the state after 15 weeks of pregnancy.

The state House of Representatives passed the measure, which resembles a Mississippi law now being challenged at the U.S. Supreme Court, along party lines, The Associated Press reported.

The Arizona Senate passed the legislation last month, also along party lines.

The bill, which does not contain any exceptions for rape, incest or a medical emergency, now goes to Gov. Doug Ducey (R), who has signaled he will sign it into law.

Arizona joins a growing number of red states passing restrictive abortion laws.

Florida also passed a copycat law to the 15-week abortion ban in Mississippi, while Idaho’s governor this week signed a bill into law that mirrors the six-week abortion ban in Texas, which deputizes private citizens to enforce it.

After Arizona’s bill passed the state legislature, the National Institute for Reproductive Health issued a scathing rebuke.

“Arizonians and those seeking care in Arizona deserve so much better,” said Andrea Miller, the organization’s president, in a statement. “People seeking abortion care need access in their own community, when they need it, period.

“Bans like these are based in anti-abortion politics, not science or medicine. The majority of people across this country, including in Arizona, support access to legal abortion,” Miller continued.

Arizona Sen. Nancy Barto (R), the sponsor of the bill in the Senate, last month said she was counting on the Supreme Court upholding the Mississippi ban and ruling against the 1973 precedent Roe v. Wade, which established abortion as a private right.

“The baby inside of a woman is a separate life and needs to be protected,” Barto said in a statement at the time.

Arizona also has a 100-year-old law that completely bans abortions in the state, which would go into effect if Roe v. Wade is overturned, the AP noted.

Also on Thursday, Arizona sent two bills to Ducey’s desk that would bar transgender girls from participating in sports that correspond with their gender identity and restrict access to gender-affirming care.