Abortion rights advocacy organization Planned Parenthood plans to spend a record $50 million ahead of November’s midterm elections, pouring money into contests where access to abortion will be on the ballot./Deposit photo
By Sarah Lapidu || The Arizona Republic
A Pima County judge is weighing whether an anti-abortion law first enacted in 1864 should override all other laws regarding abortion and create a near ban on the procedure in Arizona.
Superior Court Judge Kellie Johnson did not make a ruling in the much anticipated hearing Friday in Tucson, but said she would do so within 60 days and no sooner than Sept. 20.
An injunction from 1973, when Roe v. Wade was decided by the Supreme Court, had blocked the territorial era anti-abortion law. Following the court’s ruling overturning Roe this summer, Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich sought to have the injunction lifted so it could take effect.
Planned Parenthood of Arizona and the Pima County Attorney’s Office argued that the court should “harmonize” all of the laws passed in Arizona, including a ban on abortions after 15 weeks that Gov. Doug Ducey signed into law earlier this year.
Attorneys suggested that the territorial-era ban on all abortions except to save the life of the mother should now only apply to unlicensed abortion providers.
With the overturning of Roe via a ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, states can now set their own abortion laws. While many states had “trigger” laws, which were designed to take effect automatically upon Roe’s reversal, uncertainty has reigned in Arizona over which laws are now in effect.
During the hearing, attorneys for Brnovich noted that before the Supreme Court decided Roe v. Wade, the Arizona Court of Appeals rejected a challenge to the near total ban, and the subsequent injunction occurred because of the court’s decision.
The laws that were passed by the Arizona Legislature after Roe v. Wade had to account for what was then a constitutional right to abortion.
