International Business Times: Abortion Restrictions in 2012
By Ashley Portero
“Fifteen states have passed nearly 40 laws intended to limit women’s reproductive rights within the first six months of 2012, according to a new report from the Center for Reproductive Rights, with some areas of the country enacting restrictions that are burdensome to the point that they practically ban the procedure. So far in 2012, the anti-abortion attack has centered on a clear trend whereby state legislatures pass laws that specifically target health care providers, presumably with the intention of placing such onerous restrictions in place that it dissuades some women from actually following through with a pregnancy termination.
Legislators in at least 17 states have proposed bills that would limit the availability of abortion services by placing increased regulations on abortion providers that do not apply to other medical care professionals. Several proposals on the both the state and federal level — remember the Blunt Amendment? — have involved either the creation or extension of “refusal clauses,” which allow individuals and health care centers to deny care based on their religious or moral beliefs regarding abortion and even contraception. Several states have enacted waiting periods and other pre-abortion requirements that opponents say are designed to sway women against following through with a pregnancy termination. One of the most prevalent trends of 2012 have been bans on abortion at 20 weeks (post-fertilization), which have already passed in Arizona, Georgia and Louisiana.”
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