[JURIST] The Wisconsin State Assembly [official website] approved a bill [SB 206] Friday that will require those women seeking abortions to review an ultrasound of the fetus before having the procedure. The technician would have to display an image of the fetus, as well as report its health status. Similar to other recent state abortion laws [JURIST news archive], it would require the practitioner to be admitted to practice at a hospital within 30 miles. According to Planned Parenthood [advocacy website], an abortion clinic in Appleton, Wisconsin, will have to close due to this requirement. The bill will have to pass the senate and the governor before it can go into effect, but the governor has already pledged to sign it.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona (ACLU-AZ) [advocacy website] filed a lawsuit [complaint, PDF] in May in the US District Court for the District of Arizona [official website] seeking to permanently enjoin a state law [HB 2443, PDF] that penalizes doctors, not patients, who perform abortions when the patient’s decision is based solely on the gender or race of the fetus. This lawsuit comes on the heels of several developments in controversial state abortion statutes. Earlier in May Arizona’s ban on abortions after 20 weeks [JURIST report] was deemed to violate women’s rights. Last month a judge for the US District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas [official website] temporarily blocked enforcement of a law banning abortions 12 weeks into a pregnancy [JURIST report]. In December a state judge in Georgia enjoined a law [JURIST report] banning doctors from providing abortions for women more than 20 weeks into gestation. Montana voters in November passed a referendum [JURIST report] requiring notice to parents of minors before a planned abortion procedure. Planned Parenthood also sued Texas [JURIST report] in October claiming that its law preventing state funding from going to any clinics affiliated with providing abortions violates another state law.