Great news coming out of Arizona ... Planned Parenthood has had to stop abortion services in three Arizona clinics because of state laws.
Starting Friday, women will no longer be able to terminate their pregnancies at the Planned Parenthood clinics in Prescott Valley, Flagstaff and Yuma that offered abortion through medication. Women can still receive surgical and medication abortions in the Tucson and Phoenix areas, but will those services will cease at some suburban locations.
"I think we've really done women a disservice in all parts of the state by imposing rules that have no medical significance and just creating barriers," said Bryan Howard, president of Planned Parenthood of Arizona.
The move came a week after an Arizona appeals court allowed key parts of a 2009 state law restricting abortions to take effect. That includes a requirement that women see a doctor in person the day before getting an abortion to hear about risks and alternatives, and allowing health care workers to refuse to participate in abortions for moral or religious reasons.
Frankly, those restrictions sound like a lot of common sense. The article went on to say that the Flagstaff Clinic only had a nurse practitioner who performed the abortions.
Getting an abortion is a serious medical procedure. I'm not quite sure how rules like seeing a doctor to hear more about a procedure's risks and alternatives is a rule that has no medical significance. But, as pro-lifers have been saying, Planned Parenthood is far from having women -- let alone their babies' -- best interest at heart.