Justice Bill Montgomery blamed Planned Parenthood — which is suing the state over its abortion ban — for “the greatest genocide known to man”
SHEFALI LUTHRA
The19TH
A justice on the Arizona Supreme Court — which this winter could decide whether the state can enforce a total ban on abortion — has repeatedly expressed his opposition to the procedure and received campaign support from a prominent state anti-abortion activist, according to materials reviewed by The 19th.
This article was copublished with The 19th, a nonprofit newsroom covering gender, politics, and policy. Sign up for The 19th’s newsletter here.
Experts told The 19th that his past comments could be grounds for him recusing himself from the abortion-ban case, which he has not done.
The justice, Bill Montgomery, joined the Arizona Supreme Court in 2019 after serving nine years as the Maricopa County attorney. In a now-deleted 2017 Facebook post, he said Planned Parenthood “is responsible for the greatest genocide known to man,” which was reported by the Phoenix New Times in 2019. Planned Parenthood is the organization challenging Arizona’s law.
In 2012, while defending a 20-week abortion ban, Montgomery argued that abortion should be totally banned, citing “the inherent human dignity in a life at the moment of conception,” remarks reported in the East Valley Tribune. In 2015, he spoke at a protest outside of a Phoenix Planned Parenthood clinic, telling The Catholic Sun that “the unborn are entitled to the same degree of protection as anyone else.”
