This past Monday, Planned Parenthood of Arizona called on a judge to step up and immediately halt the 1864 abortion ban for the state from officially going into effect.
The largest abortion provider in the country put in a request with the Superior Court of Pima County, making the argument that the recent court ruling from one judge sparked immense confusion concerning which two competing abortion bans for the state of Arizona should actually be enforced.
This past Friday, Judge Kellie Johnson issued a ruling that one 1973 injunction targeting a Civil War-era abortion law is no longer valid and “no longer has any prospective application” because it was pushed through by the now-overturned Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision.
“The Court finds that because the legal basis for the judgment entered in 1973 has now been overruled, it must vacate the judgment in its entirety,” stated Johnson as part of her ruling.
The law, which was set in place well over fifty years before the state of Arizona first joined the Union back in 1912, issued the threat against abortion providers with two to five years in prison. The law seeks to ban all abortions except when absolutely necessary in order to save the life of the mother, with no exceptions at all for incest or rape.
The ruling took place just a day prior to another more recent abortion ban, the Arizona 15-week abortion ban which passed earlier this year, was scheduled to go into effect fully.
Planned Parenthood of Arizona was a plaintiff in the case and labeled the 1864 law entirely “archaic” and said it would force “Arizonans back nearly 150 years.” The Planned Parenthood affiliate continued on to claim it “will never back down.”
“The court’s decision has allowed conflicting laws to take effect and has caused immediate confusion, even among our state’s highest elected officials, as to the status of abortion access in Arizona,” expressed the president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Arizona, Brittany Fonteno.
“This confusion has forced Planned Parenthood Arizona to pause abortion services and cancel appointments scheduled this week – meaning that members of our community once again have been and will continue to be denied medical care that they deserve and need while this decision is in effect. This is unacceptable,” stated Fonteno.
The court filing request from Planned Parenthood Arizona asked that the court put in place a stay of its ruling while the legal process carries out.
