useapen
2024-04-10 05:30:58 UTC
The Arizona supreme court ruled Tuesday to let a law banning almost all
abortions in the state go into effect, a decision that could curtail
abortion access in the US south-west and could make Arizona one of the
biggest battlefields in the 2024 electoral fight over abortion rights.
The justices said Arizona could enforce a 1864 near-total abortion ban,
first passed before Arizona became a state, that went unenforced for
decades after the US supreme court legalized abortion nationwide in the
1973 decision Roe v Wade. However, the justices also ruled to hold off on
requiring the state to enforce the ban for 14 days, in order to allow
advocates to ask a lower court to pause it again.
White woman, long dark hair pulled back, black blazer, speaking
Pregnant Arizona lawmaker shares fight to get abortion, highlighting
cruel laws
Read more
The ban can only be enforced prospectively, according to the 4-2 ruling.
Minutes after the ruling Kris Mayes, Arizonas Democratic attorney
general, vowed not to prosecute any doctors or women under the 1864 ban.
Todays decision to reimpose a law from a time when Arizona wasnt a
state, the civil war was raging, and women couldnt even vote will go down
in history as a stain on our state, Mayes said in a statement.
Voters may be able to weigh in on the issue in November: abortion rights
supporters in Arizona have spent months gathering signatures for a ballot
measure to enshrine abortion rights into the state constitution, and the
Tuesday decision raises the stakes for their efforts significantly. If it
succeeds, the ballot measure would declare that people in Arizona have a
fundamental right to abortion and that the state will not try to curb
that right before a pregnancy reaches fetal viability, which is generally
pegged to about 24 weeks of pregnancy.
Although ballot measures need to amass 383,923 signatures by July to get
on the ballot, the organizers behind the Arizona measure announced last
week that they have gathered more than 500,000 signatures, and plan to
collect more.
Arizona governor Katie Hobbs, a Democrat, said Tuesday was a dark day
for the state and implored abortion rights supporters to make their voices
heard in November.
Hobbs vowed to do everything in her power to preserve access to
reproductive care in the state. The governor last year issued a sweeping
executive order banning county attorneys from prosecuting women who seek
abortions and doctors who perform them.
Asked about the possibility that her directive could be challenged in
court following Tuesdays ruling, Hobbs said: Bring it on.
While the long-term impact of the decision on abortion access in Arizona
is not yet clear, a number of providers said Tuesday that they will stay
open as long as they can. Planned Parenthood Arizona, which operates
multiple locations in the state, intends to continue providing abortions
as long as the procedure is legal. Thanks to a court order in a separate
case, Planned Parenthood appears to be able to legally provide abortions
beyond the 14-day window and potentially as late as into May.
Regardless of todays decision, what I can tell you is that our doors
will remain open, Angela Florez, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood
Arizona, told reporters on a call after the supreme court decision. We
will continue to provide what essential healthcare we can within the
limitations of the law, and we hope that supporters will continue to
support and that patients will still continue to feel safe in our care.
Dr Gabrielle Goodrick, a longtime abortion provider in Phoenix, also told
the Guardian that her clinic will continue offering abortions, at least
through the 14-day window.
We are not closing. Ever. Thats not a question, Goodrick said. I have
reassurances from the governor and the attorney general that theyre not
going to prosecute, but I need to investigate that further.
The ruling became a campaign issue almost as soon as it was issued. Kamala
Harris quickly laid the blame on Donald Trump, whose three supreme court
appointees voted to overturn Roe, paving the way for state-level abortion
bans. The revived ban is a reality because of Donald Trump, who brags
about being proudly the person responsible for overturning Roe v Wade,
and made it possible for states to enforce cruel bans, she said in a
statement. Harris also warned of nationwide restrictions to reproductive
care that could come with a second Trump presidency.
The vice-president will visit Arizona on Friday for a trip that was
planned before Tuesdays decision.
Democrat Ruben Gallego, who is running against Republican and stalwart
Trump supporter Kari Lake to represent Arizona in the US Senate, condemned
the law in a statement.
Our fight against extremist bans like the one enacted today has never
been more important which is why Im committed to doing whatever it
takes to protect abortion rights at the federal level, Gallego said.
Arizona is one of roughly a dozen states where voters may get a chance to
vote directly on abortion rights come November. However, as a key
battleground state in the presidential election, the stakes in Arizona are
particularly high, since Democrats hope that outrage over Roes
overturning will also propel their candidates including Joe Biden to
victory.
The Tuesday decision is likely to galvanize voters. Several states have
held abortion-related ballot measures since Roe fell, and in every state
including Republican strongholds like Kansas and Kentucky abortion
rights supporters have triumphed.
In a statement, Lake said that she opposed the Tuesday ruling. Lake has
previously called abortion the ultimate sin, but like many other
Republicans in the wake of Roes demise and abortion rights supporters
ballot box successes, has moved to moderate her position on abortion
policy.
I am calling on Katie Hobbs and the statelegislature to come up with an
immediate common sense solution that Arizonans can support, Lake said.
Ultimately, Arizona voters will make the decision on the ballot come
November.
Until the 1864 ban is enforced, abortion is accessible in Arizona up until
15 weeks of pregnancy. Under the 1864 ban, it is illegal to help procure
the miscarriage of a pregnant woman. The law only permits abortions to
save a womans life and does not have exceptions for rape or incest.
The impact of the ruling will reverberate beyond Arizonas borders.
Goodrick told the Guardian last year that many of her patients come from
Texas, which has banned almost all abortions since even before Roe fell.
Because Texas is home to one in 10 women of reproductive age in the US,
Arizona has been a critical release valve for Texans fleeing the states
abortion bans.
Lauren Gambino contributed reporting
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/apr/09/arizona-supreme-court-
abortion-decision
abortions in the state go into effect, a decision that could curtail
abortion access in the US south-west and could make Arizona one of the
biggest battlefields in the 2024 electoral fight over abortion rights.
The justices said Arizona could enforce a 1864 near-total abortion ban,
first passed before Arizona became a state, that went unenforced for
decades after the US supreme court legalized abortion nationwide in the
1973 decision Roe v Wade. However, the justices also ruled to hold off on
requiring the state to enforce the ban for 14 days, in order to allow
advocates to ask a lower court to pause it again.
White woman, long dark hair pulled back, black blazer, speaking
Pregnant Arizona lawmaker shares fight to get abortion, highlighting
cruel laws
Read more
The ban can only be enforced prospectively, according to the 4-2 ruling.
Minutes after the ruling Kris Mayes, Arizonas Democratic attorney
general, vowed not to prosecute any doctors or women under the 1864 ban.
Todays decision to reimpose a law from a time when Arizona wasnt a
state, the civil war was raging, and women couldnt even vote will go down
in history as a stain on our state, Mayes said in a statement.
Voters may be able to weigh in on the issue in November: abortion rights
supporters in Arizona have spent months gathering signatures for a ballot
measure to enshrine abortion rights into the state constitution, and the
Tuesday decision raises the stakes for their efforts significantly. If it
succeeds, the ballot measure would declare that people in Arizona have a
fundamental right to abortion and that the state will not try to curb
that right before a pregnancy reaches fetal viability, which is generally
pegged to about 24 weeks of pregnancy.
Although ballot measures need to amass 383,923 signatures by July to get
on the ballot, the organizers behind the Arizona measure announced last
week that they have gathered more than 500,000 signatures, and plan to
collect more.
Arizona governor Katie Hobbs, a Democrat, said Tuesday was a dark day
for the state and implored abortion rights supporters to make their voices
heard in November.
Hobbs vowed to do everything in her power to preserve access to
reproductive care in the state. The governor last year issued a sweeping
executive order banning county attorneys from prosecuting women who seek
abortions and doctors who perform them.
Asked about the possibility that her directive could be challenged in
court following Tuesdays ruling, Hobbs said: Bring it on.
While the long-term impact of the decision on abortion access in Arizona
is not yet clear, a number of providers said Tuesday that they will stay
open as long as they can. Planned Parenthood Arizona, which operates
multiple locations in the state, intends to continue providing abortions
as long as the procedure is legal. Thanks to a court order in a separate
case, Planned Parenthood appears to be able to legally provide abortions
beyond the 14-day window and potentially as late as into May.
Regardless of todays decision, what I can tell you is that our doors
will remain open, Angela Florez, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood
Arizona, told reporters on a call after the supreme court decision. We
will continue to provide what essential healthcare we can within the
limitations of the law, and we hope that supporters will continue to
support and that patients will still continue to feel safe in our care.
Dr Gabrielle Goodrick, a longtime abortion provider in Phoenix, also told
the Guardian that her clinic will continue offering abortions, at least
through the 14-day window.
We are not closing. Ever. Thats not a question, Goodrick said. I have
reassurances from the governor and the attorney general that theyre not
going to prosecute, but I need to investigate that further.
The ruling became a campaign issue almost as soon as it was issued. Kamala
Harris quickly laid the blame on Donald Trump, whose three supreme court
appointees voted to overturn Roe, paving the way for state-level abortion
bans. The revived ban is a reality because of Donald Trump, who brags
about being proudly the person responsible for overturning Roe v Wade,
and made it possible for states to enforce cruel bans, she said in a
statement. Harris also warned of nationwide restrictions to reproductive
care that could come with a second Trump presidency.
The vice-president will visit Arizona on Friday for a trip that was
planned before Tuesdays decision.
Democrat Ruben Gallego, who is running against Republican and stalwart
Trump supporter Kari Lake to represent Arizona in the US Senate, condemned
the law in a statement.
Our fight against extremist bans like the one enacted today has never
been more important which is why Im committed to doing whatever it
takes to protect abortion rights at the federal level, Gallego said.
Arizona is one of roughly a dozen states where voters may get a chance to
vote directly on abortion rights come November. However, as a key
battleground state in the presidential election, the stakes in Arizona are
particularly high, since Democrats hope that outrage over Roes
overturning will also propel their candidates including Joe Biden to
victory.
The Tuesday decision is likely to galvanize voters. Several states have
held abortion-related ballot measures since Roe fell, and in every state
including Republican strongholds like Kansas and Kentucky abortion
rights supporters have triumphed.
In a statement, Lake said that she opposed the Tuesday ruling. Lake has
previously called abortion the ultimate sin, but like many other
Republicans in the wake of Roes demise and abortion rights supporters
ballot box successes, has moved to moderate her position on abortion
policy.
I am calling on Katie Hobbs and the statelegislature to come up with an
immediate common sense solution that Arizonans can support, Lake said.
Ultimately, Arizona voters will make the decision on the ballot come
November.
Until the 1864 ban is enforced, abortion is accessible in Arizona up until
15 weeks of pregnancy. Under the 1864 ban, it is illegal to help procure
the miscarriage of a pregnant woman. The law only permits abortions to
save a womans life and does not have exceptions for rape or incest.
The impact of the ruling will reverberate beyond Arizonas borders.
Goodrick told the Guardian last year that many of her patients come from
Texas, which has banned almost all abortions since even before Roe fell.
Because Texas is home to one in 10 women of reproductive age in the US,
Arizona has been a critical release valve for Texans fleeing the states
abortion bans.
Lauren Gambino contributed reporting
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/apr/09/arizona-supreme-court-
abortion-decision