JS Format an ISO8601 date as Django date string representation

format_date.js

var format_date = function(date) {
    var month_names = ["January", "February", "March", "April", "May", "June",
    "July", "August", "September", "October", "November", "December"];
    js_date = new Date(date);
    formatted_date = month_names[js_date.getMonth()] + ' ' + js_date.getDate() + ', ' + js_date.getFullYear() 
                    + ', ' + js_date.getUTCHours() + ':' + js_date.getUTCMinutes();

    if(js_date.getHours() < 12) {
        formatted_date += " a.m.";
    } else {
        formatted_date += " p.m.";
    }
    return formatted_date;
}