Group sues over new abortion restrictions in Arizona

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Planned Parenthood Arizona Inc. filed a lawsuit in Maricopa County Superior Court Monday claiming new abortion laws approved by Gov. Jan Brewer in July violate privacy and due process clauses of the state and U.S. constitution.

Planned Parenthood officials said the group is not challenging Arizona's late-term abortion law but filed its suit regarding laws affecting parental consent, the ban on nurses performing abortions and 24-hour waiting period.

The laws being challenged require:

• That only physicians can perform surgical abortions. The law prohibits nurses from performing the procedure.
• That women receive certain information, including information on fetal pain, from a doctor in person 24 hours before her abortion.
• That parental consent forms be notarized.

The measures were vetoed by former Gov. Janet Napolitano.

The lawsuit is the latest legal salvo in the nation’s decades-long abortion fight. Greenberg Traurig LLP is representing Planned Parenthood in the case filed against the state.