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PHOENIX (AP) â€" A federal judge on Monday refused to block new Arizona rules limiting the use of the most common abortion drugs, handing a victory to conservatives in a lawsuit over restrictions that are the most stringent in the nation.
The ruling by U.S. District Judge David C. Bury means the new restrictions will take effect Tuesday.
Bury made his ruling in response to a lawsuit by Planned Parenthood Arizona and the private abortion clinic Tucson Women’s Center, who say the rules severely infringe on a woman’s ability to have an abortion.
The rules were released in January by the Arizona Department of Health Services. They ban women from taking the most common abortion-inducing drug â€" RU-486 â€" after the seventh week of pregnancy.
Existing rules allow women to take the abortion pill through nine weeks of pregnancy.
Planned Parenthood estimates that 800 women would have had to get surgical abortions in 2012 if the rules were in effect then.
An attorney for the organization also told the judge last week that the new rules could force its Flagstaff abortion clinic to suspend operations because it does not offer surgical abortions.
In his ruling, the judge acknowledged that the new rules will make it more difficult for some women in Arizona, especially those in the northern part of the state, to get abortions as they have to travel farther and make more trips to clinics.
‘‘The court finds that the injunction is not in the public interest,’’ he said.
Attorney Mike Tyron, arguing the case for the state, described the rules as a simple shift in abortion regulations that amount to a minor inconvenience for women â€" and are not the heavy-handed change that opponents make them out to be.
Proponents of the bill say it protects women from clinics that are not up to health standards. Opponents say it puts women at risk and violates their privacy.
The rules require that the drug be administered only at the FDA-approved dosage no later than seven weeks into a pregnancy instead of nine weeks, and that both doses be taken at the clinic.
The usual dose is lower and now usually taken at home, decreasing the cost and chance of complications.
‘‘When Planned Parenthood loses, women win,’’ said Cathi Herrod, president of the Center for Arizona Policy. ‘‘It’s common-sense regulations protecting the health and safety of women considering an abortion.’’
The Center for Reproductive Rights, which filed the lawsuit on behalf of Planned Parenthood, says it will continue to challenge the rules in court.
‘‘This law serves no purpose other than to prevent Arizona women from using a safe alternative to surgical abortion and force their doctors to follow and outdated, riskier, and less effective method. This is what happens when politicians, not doctors, practice medicine,’’ said attorney David Brown.
Judge won’t block new Arizona abortion drug rules, limiting use of abortion drugs.
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