Judge rejects challenge to Arizona abortion law

Annie Youderian reports:

A federal judge in Phoenix refused to block enforcement of an Arizona law that mandates a 24-hour waiting period before abortions can be performed or before doctors can get paid for those procedures.

A group of doctors and two health clinics, the Tucson Women’s Center and Family Planning Associates, sued the Arizona Medical Board and the state attorney general in federal court, seeking a preliminary injunction blocking enforcement of the new law, passed by the state Legislature and signed into law in July.

They argued that the 24-hour waiting provision unconstitutionally burdens a woman’s right to an abortion, and that the payment provision is unconstitutionally vague.

The law went into effect on Sept. 30.

A day earlier, U.S. District Judge David G. Campbell denied the plaintiffs’ request, explaining that they “have failed to show that they are likely to prevail on the merits of these constitutional claims.”