Legal News

Arizona Criminalizes Certain Abortions

By Nathan Koppel

Arizona has become the first state in the nation to criminalize abortions based on the sex or race of a fetus.

(Here’s a report from the Arizona Republic and here’s a link to the new law, signed yesterday by Ariz. Governor Jan Brewer.)

The law makes it a Class 3 felony, punishable up to 7 years in jail, for doctors to perform sex- or race-selection abortions.

Republican supporters of the law said that some populations increasingly seek abortions based on the fetus’ sex. Legislator Steve Montenegro said he advocated for the legislation because of fears women would choose to abort because they didn’t like the gender or the race of the baby, according to the Arizona Republic.

But Democratic lawmakers, the newspaper reports, said there is scant evidence that this is a problem. Katie Hobbs, a Democrat from Phoenix, said that the only proof offered of this practice was a magazine article discussing abortions in China and India.

The law also allows the father of an aborted fetus to bring a civil action and to recover money damages against a doctor or other health professional who performs a race- or sex-selection abortion.

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on March 30, 2011 (boomark / email).