Abortions can happen again in Arizona, at least for now, after an appeals court on Friday blocked the application of a law that was enacted before Arizona received statehood and that almost completely criminalized the procedure.
The three-judge jury of the Arizona Court of Appeals agreed with Planned Parenthood that Superior Court Judge Pima Kellie Johnson should not have reversed the decades-old order banning law enforcement.
Friday’s order written by Chief Judge Peter J. Eckerstrom says Planned Parenthood and its Arizona affiliate have shown they are likely to win an appeal against the Tucson judge’s decision to allow the old law to apply.
They argued that the judge should have considered a number of laws restricting abortions that have been passed since the original injunction was ordered in the wake of the 1973 United States Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade, who argued that women have a constitutional right to abortion.
Among these laws is one that bans abortions after 15 weeks of gestation and went into effect last month. The previous deadline was 24 weeks, the feasibility standard set in cases decided by the Federal Supreme Court and which are now overturned.
In June, the Supreme Court overturned the Roe v. Wade and Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich then called for the injunction blocking the application of the pre-state abortion law to be lifted.
That injunction was issued in 1973, shortly after Roe’s decision. Judge Johnson ruled in favor of the indictment on September 23 and revoked the order two weeks ago.
