Judge won’t block Arizona abortion drug law

PHOENIX – A federal judge on Monday refused to block new Arizona rules limiting the use of the most common abortion drugs, handing a victory to conservatives in a lawsuit over restrictions that are the most stringent in the nation.

The ruling by U.S. District Judge David C. Bury means the new restrictions will take effect today.

The rules ban pill-induced abortions after seven weeks of pregnancy, compared with the current nine-week restriction.

Bury made his ruling in response to a lawsuit by Planned Parenthood Arizona and the private abortion clinic Tucson Women’s Center, who say the rules severely infringe on a woman’s ability to have an abortion. He was asked to grant an injunction that would have blocked the rules from taking effect.

The rules were released in January by the Arizona Department of Health Services. They ban women from taking the most common abortion-inducing drug – RU-486 – after the seventh week of pregnancy. Existing rules allow women to take the abortion pill through nine weeks of pregnancy.

In his ruling, the judge acknowledged that the new rules will make it more difficult for some women in Arizona, especially those in the northern part of the state, to get abortions as they have to travel farther and make more trips to clinics.