The Arizona Legislature on Thursday joined the growing list of Republican-led states to pass aggressive anti-abortion legislation as the conservative U.S. Supreme Court is considering ratcheting back abortion rights that have been in place for nearly 50 years.

The House voted on party lines to outlaw abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy, mirroring a Mississippi law now being considered by the nation’s high court….

The bill now goes to Republican Gov. Doug Ducey, an abortion opponent who has signed every piece of anti-abortion legislation that has reached his desk since he took office in 2015….

Rep. Lorenzo Sierra, a Catholic from Cashion, said he was strongly in favor of abortion rights and called the abortion ban politically motivated and “dangerous to the women in our lives.”

“I wish we had the same fervency for the living as we do for issues like this. That we would offer the loving dignity, education, shelter, nourishment,” Sierra said. “Instead we’re doing this, and we’re getting in between a woman, her doctor and her God.”

Republican backers said little during the floor debate….

The debate and vote on the 15-week abortion ban came the same morning that the House also passed a ban on transgender girls from playing on the high school or college sports team that aligns with their gender identity. The House voted Thursday to approve a bill banning gender reassignment surgery for anyone younger than 18. Both passed with no Democratic support….

The above comes from a March 24 AP story re-published on Sudbury.com.