An Arizona appeals court halted the state’s near-total abortion ban late Friday, suspending a lower court’s decision to reinstate an old law that only allows the procedure if it is necessary to save the life of a pregnant person.
The Arizona Court of Appeals order came after Planned Parenthood Arizona, a reproductive health organization, appealed a September ruling by Pima County Superior Court Judge Kellie Johnson. The suspension is in place until the appeals court can hear the appeal. Johnson had lifted a decades-old court order on the near-total restrictions, which are rooted in an 1864 law that has no exceptions for victims of rape or incest and threatens abortion providers with up to five years in prison.
Judge Peter J. Eckerstrom, writing for the three appeals judges who issued the stay, said the lower court may have erred in resurrecting the Civil War-era law, because it goes into conflict with more recent laws that provide more leeway for abortion seekers. A law allowing abortion up to 15 weeks went into effect last month, putting it in conflict with the 1864 ban. State Attorney General Mark Brnovich (R), who opposes the rights on abortion and has said it plans to enforce the old law, had asked the courts to clarify the issue.
Johnson, the Pima County judge, had ruled that the previous law, which was updated and codified in 1901, supersedes the 15-week ban enacted this year. He said in his order that the state legislature had expressly written the 2022 law so that it would not “repeal” the earlier ban.
Abortion is prohibited in these states. See where the laws have changed.
But the three appeals judges said Planned Parenthood’s lawyers had “demonstrated a substantial likelihood of success” for their legal challenge to the stricter bans.
“Arizona courts have a responsibility to attempt to harmonize all relevant statutes in this state,” Eckerstrom wrote in a one-page order, adding that the “urgent need to [health care] suppliers, tax agencies and the public for legal clarity” had prompted the order.
The stay provides “temporary respite for Arizonans,” Planned Parenthood Arizona President and CEO Brittany Fonteno said in a statement.
“Planned Parenthood Arizona is committed to standing up for reproductive freedom for all and to continuing this fight until this 150-year-old law is removed from the books for good,” she said.
A spokeswoman for Brnovich, Brittni Thomason, said in a statement that her office “understands that this is an emotional issue and we will carefully review the court’s decision before determining the next step.” An appeals court decision on the 19th-century bans could still be appealed to the Arizona Supreme Court.
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Reproductive rights have been in flux in many states since June, when the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, which established a nationwide right to abortion in 1973. The reversal returned that decision to Congress and the states, though it has occasionally led to legal chaos. Several states did not update their abortion laws afterward Roemeaning there are conflicting regulations on the books.
In Arizona, Brnovich and abortion rights activists recently called for the state legislature to hold a special session to address the confusion, the Arizona Republic reported.
In Ohio, another state where reproductive rights have been curtailed since the repeal Roe — A judge on Friday issued a preliminary injunction on a six-week abortion ban while hearing a constitutional challenge, citing individual liberty. The procedure is now allowed up to the 22nd week of pregnancy.