Abortion bill redefines gestation period of fetuses
Ryan J. Garner
On April 12, Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer signed into law House Bill 2036 – the Mother’s Health and Safety Act, Arizona’s primary legislation on abortion.
In the latest amendments to Bill 2036, lawmakers have moved the official date used for determining the age of a fetus from conception to the last menstrual period of the pregnant woman.
This change doesn’t affect the conception date, section 36-2151 definitions remain the same there: “Conception” still means “the fusion of a human spermatozoon with a human ovum.”
However, the definition for the “gestational age” of a fetus has been reworded to: “the age of the unborn child as calculated from the first day of the last menstrual period of the pregnant woman.”
The shift was made to mitigate late-term abortions which occur after 20 weeks of gestation.
By moving the gestation age to the last day of a woman’s menstrual period, an unborn fetus will now technically be 20 weeks old from the date that the pregnant woman last menstruated, which could occur up to two weeks prior to actual conception.
This will shorten the window for abortions to be performed to within 18 weeks of conception.
Gov. Brewer commented on the risk of late term abortions in her signed bill. “Knowing that abortions become riskier the later they are performed in pregnancy, it only makes sense to prohibit these procedures past twenty weeks.”
“This legislation is consistent with my strong track record of supporting common sense measures to protect the health of women and safeguard our most vulnerable population – the unborn.”
