An Arizona Appeals Court ruled that the state’s 15- week abortion ban can go into effect, following Attorney General Mark Brnovich (R-AZ) asking for the pre-statehood ban to be enforced after Roe v. Wade was overturned.
The court ruled that the 15-week ban was lawful and that it overruled a near-total ban from when Arizona was a U.S. territory.
“Under this construction, our contemporary statutes permit physicians to perform elective abortions up to fifteen weeks but only in conformity with a host of exacting regulations. Our original law continues to outlaw abortions under all circumstances not permitted by that subsequent legislation. This construction results in a coherent and easily applied statutory scheme. It is the only construction that comports with the legislature’s direction that each of the statutes regulating abortion continues to have force and effect," Judge Garye Vasquez said in the decision.
When Roe v. Wade was overturned, abortion clinics suspended the procedure but restarted again in July after a "personhood" law giving legal rights to unborn children was blocked by a court. However, the final decision will stop abortion providers now that the law has been enforced.
The law will ban all abortions after the 15-week mark, except when a mother’s life is in danger.
Attorney General-elect Kris Mayes (D-AZ) said that she doesn’t plan to prosecute abortion providers despite the new 15-week law passing.
My statement on the Arizona Court of Appeals abortion ruling. #reproductiverights pic.twitter.com/EHh5h5FWGf
— Kris Mayes (@krismayes) December 31, 2022
Other states such as Ohio, Montana, North Carolina, and Wyoming also have bans in place but have not yet been enforced by the courts.