Lawyers file complaint challenging Arizona’s 15-week ban
The lawsuit will be the first to challenge restrictions on abortion following the successful passage of its amendment that protected abortion up to viability.
Reproductive Medicine providers in Arizona filed a lawsuit challenging a ban on abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy.
Last month, voters overwhelmingly supported Proposition 139, which protects abortion access up to the point of viability. The amendment was certified and officially added to the state constitution following the vote on November 25.
Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes and providers have signed a stipulation stating that the ban is unconstitutional and that the state will not enforce the ban until 30 days after the final resolution of the litigation, which has allowed doctors across the state to begin providing abortion care after 15 weeks of pregnancy once again starting today. The case, filed in Maricopa County Superior Court, asserts that the ban is unconstitutional because it denies Arizonans access to abortion care in violation of the new constitutional amendment passed by the voters.
The ban was enacted in 2022 after its legislature passed the bill.
The case was brought by Dr. Eric M. Reuss, M.D., M.P.H., Dr. Paul A. Isaacson, M.D., and Planned Parenthood Arizona, Inc., represented by the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Arizona, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, the Center for Reproductive Rights, and Perkins Coie LLP.
Several prominent people commented on the lawsuit in a news release, including Alexis McGill Johnson, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Federation of America.
“With their vote on Proposition 139, Arizonans said definitively that the only people qualified to make pregnancy decisions are patients and their health care providers, not politicians. It’s time for the state’s abortion law to reflect that belief and the values enshrined by the Arizona Abortion Access Act,” Johnson said. “Today, we ask the court to end Arizona’s abortion ban so that patients can get vital health care in their communities. In the coming months, Planned Parenthood Federation of America and our partners will continue to fight for Arizonans’ access to abortion, without government interference.”
You do realize that men never have had the right to refuse parenthood?