In Isaacson v. Brnovich, (D AZ, Sept. 28, 2021), an Arizona federal district court granted a preliminary injunction against enforcement of provisions in an Arizona law that prohibit medical personnel from performing an abortion knowing that the reason the abortion is sought is solely because of a genetic abnormality of the fetus. It also bans knowingly soliciting or accepting money to finance an abortion because of a genetic abnormality of the child. The court concluded that the law "does not offer workable guidance about which fetal conditions" are covered by the law, and is unclear about when a doctor or others will be deemed to know or believe what is in the mind of a patient. The court concluded in part:
Plaintiffs are likely to succeed on their claims that the Reason Regulations are unconstitutionally vague and unduly burden the rights of women to terminate pre-viability pregnancies.
The court refused to enjoin another portion of the law that broadly calls for interpreting other state laws to cover rights of the unborn. Axios and AP report on the decision.
