PHOENIX (AP) — The Arizona Supreme Court has agreed to review a lower court’s conclusion that abortion doctors can't be prosecuted under a pre-statehood law that bans the procedure in nearly all cases.
The high court decided on Tuesday that it would review the Arizona Court of Appeals ruling that said doctors couldn’t be charged for performing abortions in the first 15 weeks of pregnancy because other Arizona laws passed over the years allow them to perform the procedure.
Abortions are currently allowed in Arizona in the first 15 weeks of pregnancy under a 2022 law.
Dr. Eric Hazelrigg, the medical director of anti-abortion counseling centers in metro Phoenix, had asked the Arizona Supreme Court to review the decision. Anti-abortion centers, often known as “crisis pregnancy centers,” aim to dissuade people from getting an abortion.
The 1864 law Hazelrigg wants the court to uphold imposes a near total ban on abortions, providing no exceptions for rape or incest and allowing abortions only if a mother’s life is in danger.
In late December, the state Court of Appeals said it wasn’t viewing the pre-statehood law in isolation of other statutes and concluded the state’s laws make it clear only doctors are permitted to perform abortions. Non-doctors would still be subject to prosecution under the old law, the appeals court said.
A court had blocked enforcement of the 1864 law shortly after the U.S. Supreme Court issued the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision guaranteeing a constitutional right to an abortion. After the Supreme Court overturned the landmark decision in June, then-Republican Attorney General Mark Brnovich succeeded in getting a state judge in Tucson to lift the court order blocking its enforcement, before the state Court of Appeals ruled to temporarily halt the ban.
In a statement, Attorney General Kris Mayes urged the state's Supreme Court to follow the guidance set by the appeals court last year:
"The Arizona Court of Appeals made the right decision by ensuring that the territorial-era ban is harmonized with more recent laws regulating abortion. While the 15-week ban is far from an ideal status quo, lacking crucial exceptions for rape or incest, it is much preferable to a law passed during the Civil War, before Arizona was a state, and decades before women gained the right to vote.
I urge the Arizona Supreme Court to affirm this decision.
Bottom line: my office and I remain unwavering in our commitment to protecting the rights of Arizonans to make their own private medical decisions without interference, and we will continue to work tirelessly to safeguard these rights."
Governor Katie Hobbs issued the following statement:
“Enforcing an archaic law that strips Arizonans of their reproductive freedom and threatens to jail women and doctors would be an unconscionable attack on the liberties Arizonans hold dear. As I have said time and time again, the right to make decisions about your own family should not be infringed upon. I will continue fighting to protect access to safe and legal abortion for all Arizonans.”
Pima County Attorney Laura Conover states she will continue to fight against reproductive restrictions:
“The Order distributed by the Arizona Supreme Court states the Court will allow Yavapai County to enter into the case for the first time in order to argue what Pima County and the Arizona Attorney General will not: that the Court should ignore the last 50 years of legislation and revert the State back to a near total reproductive health ban from our territorial days. Last year the Pima County Attorney’s Office argued successfully at the Court of Appeals that all laws must be harmonized, and this allowed reproductive healthcare to resume state-wide. Trust that I will stay steadfast in continuing to fight for access to proper healthcare, on behalf of all Arizonans.”
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