By Howard Fischer | Capitol Media Services
Key Points:
- Democratic Attorney General Kris Mayes sides with ACLU challenging Arizona abortion laws
- Mayes asks court to declare restrictions on abortion services unconstitutional
- Arizona voters approved Proposition 139, adding abortion rights to constitution
Democratic Attorney General Kris Mayes is once again at odds with Republican legislative leaders over abortion.
Mayes has decided to side with attorneys from the American Civil Liberties Union who are challenging state laws that bar certain “advanced practice clinicians” like specially trained nurse practitioners from providing abortion services. And she is asking — as are the challengers — that Maricopa County Superior Court Judge John Blanchard declare the restrictions unconstitutional.
What makes that significant is that Josh Bendor, the solicitor general in Mayes’ office, said Arizona law generally requires the Attorney General’s Office to defend state laws when they are challenged in court. But, he said, that rule doesn’t apply “when there is not a plausible argument” to make, a stance that could prove significant given voters in 2024 agreed to put a right to abortion into the Arizona constitution.
