Arizona Law Leads to Fewer Abortions

A newly enacted Arizona law appears to be having an immediate and dramatic effect on the number of abortions performed statewide, WORLD News Service reports. The Abortion Consent Act, which was passed by the legislature in 2009, then took effect this August after the Arizona Court of Appeals ruled it constitutional in a 3-0 decision, mandates that minors seeking abortions must provide a notarized parental signature, that women must be provided with full, accurate information by a doctor before the procedure, that only doctors can perform abortions and that no doctor can be forced to perform an abortion if it violates his or her religious or moral beliefs. Arizona reported that 729 abortions were performed statewide in September, a 30-percent drop from August.