Weeks after Arizona voters overwhelmingly passed a ballot measure to enshrine abortion rights into the state constitution, Arizona’s attorney general, Kris Mayes, has agreed that the state will not enforce its 15-week abortion ban while a new lawsuit over the law plays out.
The lawsuit, filed on Tuesday in Maricopa county superior court on behalf of Arizona abortion providers, argues that Arizona’s 15-week ban is now unconstitutional and should be overturned.
In legal documents signed by Mayes and that will be filed alongside the lawsuit after the court formally accepts the case, Arizona agreed with providers not to prosecute people under the ban until 30 days after the litigation has wrapped up – a move that permits abortion providers in the state to resume performing abortions past 15 weeks of pregnancy.
“For two years, physicians’ hands have been tied when a patient needs to end a pregnancy after 15 weeks, including when they face serious pregnancy complications. But today we can once again provide care to people who want to end their pregnancy,” Dr Eric Reuss, one of the abortion providers who filed the lawsuit, said in a statement.
“We hope the courts will quickly recognize the harms of Arizona’s ban and strike it down once and for all.”
The lawsuit marks the latest effort by advocates to make good on the pro-abortion rights ballot measures passed by seven states in the November elections. While these measures amended states’ constitutions to protect or expand abortion rights, they did not actually rewrite pre-existing state laws.
Abortion restrictions must now be knocked down through litigation or legislation – processes that take time and whose outcomes are far from guaranteed.
“It’s up to other state actors to do the work of going back and making sure that Arizona’s laws are in line with the really strong protections that are now in place in the constitution,” Rebecca Chan, staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) Reproductive Freedom Project, said in an interview.
The national ACLU, the ACLU of Arizona, the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, the Center for Reproductive Rights and the law firm Perkins Coie are representing the plaintiffs in the Arizona lawsuit.
Chan continued: “Challenging the 15-week ban is really the first step to fulfilling the promise of that amendment and we’re really excited to see that ban gone.”
Over the last year, Arizona has been at the epicenter of numerous disputes over abortion rights. Last spring, the Arizona state supreme court agreed to let a 19th-century near-total abortion ban – which dates back to before Arizona became a state – take effect. That decision unleashed nationwide outrage and led the Republican-controlled state legislature to scramble to repeal the 19th-century law.
Outside Arizona, voters also passed pro-abortion rights ballot measures in Colorado, Maryland, Missouri, Montana, Nevada and New York state. Planned Parenthood affiliates that operate in Missouri have already filed a lawsuit challenging the state’s near-total abortion ban as well as a slew of other restrictions on the procedure.
A hearing in that case is scheduled for Wednesday. If all goes well for Planned Parenthood, the reproductive healthcare giant is expected to resume performing abortions in Missouri as soon as this week.
Donald Trump’s incoming administration may undermine the success of these ballot measures, since federal abortion restrictions could override state-level protections. Although Trump has flip-flopped on whether to implement a nationwide ban, activists have already started drawing up wishlists of stringent anti-abortion policies.
“There is absolutely the risk of a national abortion ban and there are many ways they may try to accomplish that,” Chan said. “But in this present moment, when that has not yet happened – and at this moment it is not yet guaranteed that it will happen – we do have this incredible opportunity to really effectuate this very, very strong protection that Arizona voters were emphatic that they wanted.”
