They can determine how old the fetus is by the size. That is pretty standard, especially in the early weeks. So, they will have to do the math in order to calculate the last period.
Some states have laws that require a woman to get a doctor’s authorization for an abortion. Presumably a doctor could review the medical records and determine if the information the woman gave is credible. If he feels the woman is giving false information, he might choose to, or be legally obligated to, withhold permission for the abortion.
Except that OB/GYNs don’t normally track patients’ periods, (at least not here in Japan), so it would require an ultrasound to really determine anything definite if the woman says “I don’t remember.” You’re talking 20 weeks. I would guess that they are going to do an ultrasound for anyone close to that range.
It’s clearly an ex post fucto law. 
In my experience in the US, a woman gets asked when her last period was every time she sees an OB-GYN, by the nurse before the doctor even gets to see her. I assume they stop once you’re pregnant and have been to see them at least once previously while pregnant, but haven’t been in that situation.
Exactly. This seems like a step toward trying to make my birth control pills illegal.
:golf clap:
It’s not even just to make abortion more difficult. It’s to reinforce the idea that women are just baby-making machines. While I understand why, for example, the March of Dimes encourages all women to take their folic acid “just in case” they become pregnant, it’s a similar idea - that no matter when or what situation we are in if we find ourselves pregnant we should not think of anything but keeping it, and anyway, we should be trying to get pregnant already.
Unless we are teens. Then we are the scum of the earth for getting pregnant.
For the life of me I can’t find the text of the law, but one (ONE!) of my concerns with codifying OB/GYN shorthand into actual law is that it creates a hard and fast rule that doesn’t conform to reality in many cases. I typically ovulate around day 21. Lots of women get pregnant when they haven’t had a period in months or years! Girls can get pregnant before they ever menstruate. Is there any provision for that sort of thing in the bill?
Somewhere on the ASU campus:
Paul: Hi, Tina…It’s Paul.
Tina: Hi Paul!
Paul: I was wondering if you are available to go out with me tomorrow night.
Tina: Sure…I would love to!
Paul: So whaddya say…I pick you up at 7:00 tomorrow night?
Tina: Sure…7:00 is perfect.
Paul: I really want to make it a special night. I’m gonna take you to that swanky place uptown and then to the Dave Matthews concert afterwards.
Tina: Wow! We’ve only been on 2 other dates…are you sure?
Paul: Sure I’m sure…you are quite a woman and I really want to get to know you even better. You mean the world to me Tina, and I am really feeling close to you already.
Tina: Well, while we are on the subject of knowing each other, I need to tell you something upfront…
Paul: Oh, what’s that?
Tina: I’m going be two weeks pregnant tonight…er…ummm…depending if we…
Paul: <click>
What if conception never occurs? Does that mean you are always pregnant? Does this make sense? Maybe I am pregnant right now!!
Have you actually seen their vaginas?
You are pregnant, and you are a serial killer, with steady output of 12 kills per year.
13, actually. Which probably means she’s a witch. ratatoskK, do you float?
More than that if she releases two or more eggs at once! :eek: 
Here it is. They do define “gestational age” as calculated from the last period, but that’s not new (the new or changed text is in blue), and the changed part on page 18 says the limit is 20 weeks. I guess the previous law must have said 22 weeks. So it’s not actually the definition of “pregnant” they just changed, and it doesn’t seem to open the door to anything crazy, just any crazy doors that were already open.
They also refer to it as the “unborn child” throughout.
Good news is, two women whose cycles are two weeks out of synch can now ride in the carpool lane since, at any given time, one of them is pregnant with Schroedinger’s kid.
In Arizona, she’d be forced to answer by a certified and registered Aryan even if it couldn’t be later than 1939.
I’ve said before that the logical extension of these laws will eventually take us to places like “pregnancy begins with the gleam in the eye” or “…when a man decides a woman is attractive.” I mean, the process is already underway at that point, right?
Don’t think they don’t have that in mind.
There are, after all, only seven billion of us and they’re used to drinking sand in Arizona.
“If you don’t sleep with me, you might be denying causality and rip the fabric of the Universe to shreds. Do you really want to risk that?”