Phoenix (AP) In an effort to overturn a 15-week abortion restriction that is in conflict with a newly enacted constitutional amendment that would expand access up to fetal viability, reproductive rights supporters filed a lawsuit against Arizona on Tuesday.
On behalf of the local chapter of Planned Parenthood and two doctors, the American Civil Liberties Union, Planned Parenthood, and the Center for Reproductive Rights filed the lawsuit in Maricopa County Superior Court, claiming the law infringes on pregnant Arizonans’ fundamental right to an abortion and their right to personal autonomy. They claim that the current laws are overly restrictive, and this is the first step in their efforts to repeal them.
The 15-week restriction was enacted by the Republican-controlled Arizona Legislature, but it wasn’t put into force until after the U.S. Supreme Court overruled Roe v. Wade in 2022. According to spokeswoman Richie Taylor on Tuesday, Democratic Attorney General Kris Mayes decided not to enforce the 15-week restriction while the lawsuit is pending.
Additionally, the lawsuit aims to overturn the ban’s enforcement procedures, which might result in criminal penalties against healthcare professionals who willfully or knowingly perform abortions above 15 weeks, with the exception of medical emergencies. Medical licenses may be suspended or revoked for doctors who break the prohibition.
You know, the amendment itself doesn’t completely purge the statute books. According to Rebecca Chan, a staff attorney with the ACLU, more steps must be taken to fulfill the promise of the amendment. That’s what this 15-week ban challenge is all about.
FILE – Dr. Paul Isaacson speaks as Arizona abortion-rights supporters gather for a news conference, July 3, 2024, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin, file)
Image courtesy of Ross D. Franklin/Associated Press
In the general election of 2024, ballot propositions to include the right to an abortion in state constitutions were approved by voters in five states, including Arizona. An amendment was also adopted by Nevada voters, but it won’t go into force until 2026 unless it is passed again. In New York, another that forbids discrimination based on pregnancy results won victorious.
After the Arizona Supreme Court ruled in April that the state could enforce an almost complete abortion prohibition enacted in 1864, the ballot issue gained support. Together with Democrats, a few Republican lawmakers repealed the law before it could be put into effect.
Fetal viability, or the point at which a fetus can survive outside the uterus, is made more accessible by the measure. Doctors believe it’s anytime after 21 weeks, but there’s no set time frame for viability. It permits post-viability abortions if they are required to preserve the mother’s life or to safeguard her physical or mental well-being.
The majority of abortions occur early in pregnancy. Although the data excludes California and several other states where proponents claim a higher percentage of abortions are carried out later in pregnancy, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that 93% of them nationwide in 2022 occurred in the first 13 weeks of pregnancy.
Legal challenges to laws that conflict with the ballot measure, such as one requiring patients to have an ultrasound at least 24 hours prior to an abortion, with the opportunity to view the image and hear an explanation of what it shows, were made possible by the general election certification on November 25.
In response to the 15-week abortion ban, reproductive rights organizations indicated that they will file a lawsuit.
The socially conservative Center for Arizona Policy’s president at the time, Cathi Herrod, stated that the organization will look to step in when necessary.
The government has an interest in passing laws that safeguard women’s health and safety, and many of those pro-life laws do just that, so we hope those laws will remain in place, Herrod added.
Abortion rights organizations have resisted the bans or restrictions on access to abortion in the majority of Republican-controlled states.
As soon as a ballot measure was enacted in Missouri, affiliates of Planned Parenthood filed a lawsuit to have the bans and other laws restricting abortion declared unconstitutional. Because abortion is illegal in that state at any point during pregnancy and no clinics offer it, the situation is different there. Wednesday is the date of the hearing.
In an opinion, Republican Attorney General Andrew Bailey of Missouri stated that he will uphold certain abortion-related regulations even if voters approved a constitutional amendment that is largely anticipated to overturn the state’s nearly complete ban on the procedure.
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