By Erik Eckholm | The New York Times
One day after the Food and Drug Administration relaxed its guidelines for use of an abortion-inducing drug, Arizona’s Republican governor, Doug Ducey, signed a bill on Thursday requiring abortion clinics to follow the earlier protocol, which medical experts have described as outdated, overly restrictive and less healthy for women.
The bill to restrict so-called medication abortions had passed the Arizona Legislature before it was known that the F.D.A. would issue new guidelines for the drug, mifepristone. But the bill specified that Arizona doctors must abide by the federal guidelines as they existed on Dec. 31, 2015.