Arizona Senate Passes Ban on Abortion After 15 Weeks

The Republican-led Arizona Senate passed a bill prohibiting doctors from performing abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy.

The state’s legislature approved the proposed legislation in a 16 to 13 vote Tuesday, The Hill reports.

According to the bill, medical officials who perform abortions after the 15-week mark could face a year in prison and lose their license.

“The baby inside of a woman is a separate life and needs to be protected,” state Sen. Nancy Barto, one of the bill’s co-sponsors, said. “All life is sacred.”

The new abortion ban is modeled after the Mississippi bill currently being considered by the Supreme Court.

Barto said she is counting on the Supreme Court’s challenge of the Mississippi law to overturn those precedents, which could lead the question to which abortion is legal up to individual states.

“A ruling in that case is expected in June,” Barto said. “This measure makes Arizona ready to enforce that law if and when that decision is made.”

To no surprise, abortion supporters denounced the bill.

“Arizona politicians are banking on the Supreme Court upholding Mississippi’s 15-week abortion ban so they can quickly strip Arizonians of their rights and begin enforcement,” Planned Parenthood Arizona CEO Brittany Fonteno said in a statement. “It’s a cowardly path to a cruel end - denying Arizonians the right to make their own health care decisions.”