Justices reject Arizona bid over abortion drugs

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court is refusing to allow Arizona to enforce stringent restrictions on medical abortions while a challenge to them plays out in lower courts.

The justices on Monday left in place a lower-court ruling that blocked rules that regulate where and how women can take drugs that induce abortion. The rules also would regulate the use of the abortion medications after the seventh week of pregnancy instead of the ninth.

Planned Parenthood was among abortion providers that challenged the rules in federal court. The San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals prevented the state from putting them in place during the legal challenge. Similar laws are in effect in North Dakota, Ohio and Texas. The Oklahoma Supreme Court struck down the restrictions in that state.