Lawyers for Attorney General Mark Brnovich asked Judge Kellie Johnson of Tucson on Friday to put an old ban on abortion back into force. After the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June, Republican Attorney General Mark Brnovich filed a motion to end the injunction and put the ban back into force. Abortions would be prohibited under the old law, except when necessary to save a pregnant person’s life./Piima County District Court
By Ray Stern || Arizona Republic
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A legal ruling expected as soon as this week could mark the end of nearly all legal abortions in Arizona, throwing women’s reproductive rights back to where they stood in 1864.
Abortion advocates and foes have waited anxiously since last month for Pima County Superior Court Judge Kellie Johnson’s decision on whether to reinstate a pre-statehood abortion ban.
The old law mandates two-to-five years in prison for abortion providers, with an exception to save the life of the mother. An injunction in 1973 blocked its enforcement, but state Attorney General Mark Brnovich asked the Pima County court to lift the injunction after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June.
Johnson said Aug. 19 that she would rule within 60 days on the request, with a ruling coming no sooner than Sept. 20.
Even if she keeps the injunction in place, a law signed by Gov. Doug Ducey this year that bans abortions after 15 weeks of gestation, with no exception for rape or incest, takes effect Saturday. About 97% of abortions in 2020 occurred before 15 weeks, but abortion advocates see the law as an unconstitutional imposition on women’s rights.
Letting the pre-statehood law take effect could shutter all legal abortion clinics in Arizona.
