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Arizona Legislature Approves 20-Week Abortion Ban

The Arizona House gave final approval to a 20-week abortion ban. The bill, which has already passed the Senate, prevents abortions in Arizona after 20 weeks gestation, but it effectively bans abortions after 18 weeks because the bill says that a fetus’ gestational age will be “calculated from the first day of the last menstrual period of the pregnant woman.” The bill includes exceptions for the health of the mother, but there are no exceptions if the fetus is found to have a life-threatening condition, even though 18 weeks is too soon to do many medical tests that would detect such abnormalities. The bill now heads to Gov. Jan Brewer’s (R) desk.

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