Arizona is turning up the heat on those who seek abortion services. And it’s doing it in a way that’s petty, pointless, mean, and that makes collateral damage out of people whose pregnancies develop fatal fetal anomalies.

The state has just passed a new law dictating what doctors must do in the case of a live birth during an abortion. In case you’re wondering how often that comes up, a rough estimate would be ONCE IN VIRTUALLY NEVER!

But the law does force abortion providers who are performing a procedure at or after the 20th week of pregnancy to have a boatload of neonatal emergency equipment and trained staff on hand. In other words, it’s nothing but a more insidious version of the TRAP laws that tried to shut down clinics by regulating everything from broom closets to shrubbery for landscaping.

And in the process of harassing abortion providers and their patients, the law also ends up forcing pointless and painful procedures to be taken during any live, early birth that’s medically induced–even in cases like anencephaly, where the fetus has no brain or cranium beyond the base of the skull. BECAUSE “LIFE.”  

Prior to this bogus law, Arizona, like most states, mandated that any baby “delivered alive” had to be cared for, but “delivered alive” wasn’t taken to mean infants with zero chance of survival. Under this new law, “delivered alive” includes any fetus exhibiting heartbeat, breath, umbilical cord pulsation, or any clear movement of voluntary muscles… none of which indicate fetal viability.

If there’s any question about the real intent of this law, just look at three other bills Arizona Governor Doug Ducey signed into law the same week as the “live birth” bill. They put restrictions on research on fetuses, deny state employees the option of making donations to Planned Parenthood through payroll deductions, and force doctors to use discontinued guidelines in the use of a drug used to induce miscarriages. The cynical live birth bill is just part of that assault.
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