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Today, an Arizona physician and the Arizona Medical Association filed a lawsuit in state court, requesting that abortion services be resumed up to 15 weeks of pregnancy. The lawsuit attempts to clarify doctors’ responsibilities under Arizona’s overlapping abortion laws. The challenge comes just a week after another court upheld a 150-year-old criminal abortion prohibition.
The century-old rule is one of the most stringent in the country, with no exceptions for rape, incest, or risks to the health of a pregnant woman. A separate law prohibiting abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy, which was passed in March, went into effect the day after this ban was renewed.
Abortion providers argue in the lawsuit filed today that there is no clarity about which state laws govern the provision of abortion care in Arizona, including how the state’s total abortion ban dating back to 1864 interacts with other abortion laws on the books, such as the most recent state law prohibiting abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy.
The state has dozens of contradictory abortion regulations in place, producing uncertainty and misunderstanding about how the laws interact and work in practice. The case requests that the court clarify Arizona’s many abortion restrictions, arguing that physicians should be permitted to offer abortion services in the state until 15 weeks of pregnancy, as required by state law.
Gov. Doug Ducey signed the 15-week restriction into law in March 2022, anticipating that the United States Supreme Court would uphold a similar Mississippi legislation in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. Just weeks after the Supreme Court affirmed the Mississippi law and reversed Roe v. Wade, Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich requested that the Civil War-era restriction be enforced. Some state officials, however, have claimed that the 15-week law replaces the century-old law.
“The state of Arizona has created tremendous pandemonium by attempting to implement conflicting abortion laws, including one of the most stringent in the country,” said Nancy Northup, president, and CEO of the Center for Reproductive Rights. “Arizonans are now in an intolerable situation.” Patients and providers have no idea what the legislation is or if they are breaking it. The court must restore abortion access and bring this legal and public health disaster to an end.”
“Arizona’s perplexing labyrinth of abortion regulations has allowed a 150-year-old legislation to keep life-saving care out of reach for countless people.” “It’s horrifying that such an outmoded legislation has been weaponized to deny women and persons seeking abortions the freedom to make very personal medical decisions and force pregnancy on them,” said Rebecca Chan, an ACLU Reproductive Freedom Project staff attorney.
“We hope the court will clarify physicians’ obligations so that they can resume providing basic health care.” We all have the right to make the greatest decisions for our health and futures, regardless of where we reside or how much money we make.”
“Over 90% of Arizonans support safe and legal access to abortion care,” said Jared Keenan, legal director for the ACLU of Arizona. “Yet Arizona’s elected officials are fighting tooth and nail to turn back the clock almost 160 years by working to reinstate one of the most extreme abortion bans in the country.
“Politicians are pursuing their own radical agenda while ignoring the awful reality that pregnant women and caregivers are now facing.” While we fight in court for clarification on abortion legislation, voters have an opportunity this November to send a strong message to Congress and elected officials that abortion access must be secured.”
The Center for Reproductive Rights, the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Arizona, and Perkins Coie filed the complaint today on behalf of abortion physician Dr. Paul Isaacson and the Arizona Medical Association.
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