Until recently, Arizona law had few restrictions on abortion. In fact, Arizona’s favorite son, republican Sen. Barry Goldwater, who ran unsuccessfully for president in 1964, was a vocal supporter of abortion rights. Conservative politics prior to the 1980’s was mostly libertarian, and so, it was felt that restrictions on abortion were an encroachment on personal privacy and individual liberties. In recent years Arizona politics has shifted from libertarianism to religious conservatism which has included numerous restrictions on abortion.
The first of the Arizona Abortion Law changes was a requirement that minors obtain the consent on one of their parents before having an abortion which passed on 1996. The abortion law also includes the option of a minor obtaining a “judicial bypass” by appearing before a judge. If the bypass is granted, the minor may have an abortion without the consent of a parent. In 2002 the Arizona legislature passed a bill that banned physician assistants from performing surgical abortions.