[JURIST] A judge for the US District Court for the District of Arizona [official website] on Thursday dismissed [order, PDF] a lawsuit challenging an Arizona law [HB 2443, PDF] punishing doctors for knowingly performing abortions based on the race or sex of the fetus. Plaintiffs contended that their constituents have not been seeking the abortions they desire based on this law, which they claim targets people based on race. Judge David Campbell granted Arizona’s motion to dismiss for lack of standing, relying on several US Supreme Court [official website] cases as precedent. This ruling does not mean the law is constitutional, as a woman directly affected by the law has yet to bring suit.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona (ACLU-AZ) [advocacy website] filed the suit [JURIST report] in May on behalf of the NAACP Maricopa County branch and the National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum [advocacy websites] seeking to have the law thrown out. Arizona Governor Jan Brewer [official website] signed the bill into law [JURIST report] in 2011. Also in 2011 an Arizona law banning abortions after 20 weeks [JURIST report] of pregnancy was deemed to violate women’s rights. In August of this year the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit [official website] struck down [JURIST report] an Arizona law [HB 2800, PDF] that disqualified, and defunded, health care providers which performed abortions.