On Thursday, August 11, the Arizona Court of Appeals ruled in Planned Parenthood Arizona v. Horne, finding Arizona’s Abortion Consent Act constitutional. This meant major changes were going to take place in the way abortion mills provided services to women seeking to end the lives of their preborn children.

Among those changes were the requirements that a woman seeking an abortion meet in person with a doctor 24 hours before the scheduled abortion, that parental consent for minors seeking an abortion had to be notarized, and that only doctors  can perform abortions, not nurse practitioners as the custom of Planned Parenthood has been.  

The changes also allow healthcare professionals “to decline to provide information or access to abortion, emergency contraception or birth control based on their personal beliefs.”

Following this ruling, attention turned to whether Planned Parenthood would appeal.

Many believed they would, especially before the new abortion restrictions took place on September 12. Yet not only did they not appeal, but according to the Arizona Republic they’ve actually halted abortion in ten of their thirteen clinics in Arizona. What this means is that the lives of preborn children are only being ended in PP clinics in Glendale, Tempe and Tucson, instead of throughout the state.

The news that PP would not be appealing was greeted with great jubilation among those who fight for life, and the reduction in clinics performing abortions can only translate into a reduction of the number of abortions performed throughout the state.

This is a great victory for life in Arizona, and hopefully a precedent that supporters of life in other states will seek to follow.