Arizona judge weighs state request to enforce abortion ban

By BOB CHRISTIE
Associated Press

PHOENIX (AP) — An Arizona judge is considering whether to allow the state to enforce a near-total ban on abortions that has been blocked for nearly 50 years. The attorney general’s office wants prosecutors to be able to charge doctors who provide abortions unless the patient’s life is in danger. That law was first enacted decades before Arizona was granted statehood in 1912 and blocked following the Supreme Court’s 1973 Roe v. Wade decision. The nation’s high court overturned Roe in June and said there is not a constitutional right to abortion. A judge in Tucson heard the Arizona case on Friday and says she’ll rule next month.