The American Family Planning Association (Planned Parenthood) has contested the decision taken by three states in an attempt to reduce access to abortion, namely Northern Carolina, Alaska and Missouri.
In Northern Carolina, there is a law that bans abortion after the twentieth week of pregnancy, except in a medical emergency. In Alaska, there is also a legal ban on abortion during the second trimester of pregnancy. Missouri has imposed a 72-hour waiting period between the request and the abortion per se, following in the footsteps of Oklahoma, Utah and South Dakota.
Since October 2015, the State of Arizona has obliged pharmacists prescribing the abortion pill to inform women that the effects of this medication can be reversed.
Carrie Flaxman, an American Family Planning (Planned Parenthood) lawyer explained that, “Women are obliged to travel hundreds of kilometres, cross borders, miss work, lose pay and jeopardise their health to undergo an abortion”.
NPR (Jennifer Ludden) 01/12/2016