On June 4, 2015 the ACLU of Arizona joined the ACLU Reproductive Freedom Project, Planned Parenthood, the Center for Reproductive Rights and Squire, Patton, Boggs LLC to challenge a law passed by the Arizona Legislature that forces doctors to mislead patients by telling them that it may be possible to reverse a medication abortion. SB 1318 is part of a recent wave of restrictions on safe, legal abortion based on bad medicine that prevent doctors from providing medical care based on the best evidence available and their medical judgment. Our clients include several Arizona health care providers who object to the law as a violation of the First Amendment rights by forcing them to covey state-mandated information to their patients that is not medically credible. The providers also challenge the law on behalf of their patients who are subjected to false, misleading and/or irrelevant information in violation of their rights under the Fourteenth Amendment. The law was scheduled to take effect on July 3, 2015 but defendants entered into a stipulated temporary restraining order with plaintiffs halting the enforcement of the law. On May 17, 2016, less than one year after we filed suit, the Governor signed a new law that effectively repeals the statute being challenged in this case.
