PHOENIX — For now, Arizona doctors won’t face losing their license to practice medicine if they fail to tell women their medication-induced abortions are reversible.
Attorneys for the state have agreed not to enforce the law when it is scheduled to take effect on July 3. That follows their admission they cannot produce their key witness for a hearing which had been set for this coming week.
Lawyers from both sides told U.S. District Court Judge Steven Logan the earliest they can appear in court is Sept. 9 for what is expected to be three days of hearings.
That makes mid-September the earliest day for Logan to reach a decision — and the earliest he could allow the state to enforce the law.
The lawsuit filed by abortion providers challenges a measure the Legislature approved earlier this year aimed at women who have medication abortions. Done through the first nine weeks of pregnancy, it involves two separate drugs, the first to kill the fetus and the second to expel it from the womb.
Abortion foes said there is evidence the procedure can be stopped by administering the hormone progesterone after the first drug is given but before the second.
The new law requires doctors and others to personally inform women at least 24 hours before the procedure that “it may be possible to reverse the effects of a medication abortion if the woman changes her mind but that time is of the essence.” Doctors who do not comply face suspension or revocation of licenses; clinics found in violation can be closed.
Challengers contend the law is based on “junk science” and that “no credible evidence exists to support this statement.”
In their lawsuit they also argue being forced to make the statement will force doctors to “steer their patients toward an experimental practice that has not been shown to work or be safe.”
