The Arizona Supreme Court on Monday granted a request by Attorney General Chris Mays to delay enforcement of the state’s 1864 abortion ban and prevent it from taking effect in the coming months.
The state’s high court on Monday granted a 90-day moratorium on the 1864 law, meaning the ban cannot go into effect until Aug. 12. The moratorium, along with another lawsuit, will remain in effect until September 26th. Mays said in a statement.
This would give Mays more time to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court if his office decides to take that path. Without Monday’s ruling, the Civil War-era law could have taken full effect as early as June 27.
This comes weeks after Gov. Katie Hobbs (D) signed a repeal of the ban passed by the state Legislature. However, the repeal would not take effect until 90 days after the Legislature adjourns for the year.
Combined with Monday’s ruling, the 1864 Anti-Abortion Act may never go into effect, but that depends on when the state Legislature adjourns, with no end date in sight at this point.
Arizona last month became the latest state to face abortion access issues after the state Supreme Court upheld an 1864 ban on nearly all abortions in the state except in cases to save the mother’s life. It has become. The law also imposed prison sentences for doctors who perform abortions.
The 160-year-old law was never repealed and remained on the books for decades. The Republican-appointed state Supreme Court ruled 4-2 that the ban could go into effect because Roe v. Wade had been overturned.
Once the repeal goes into effect, the state will return to the 15-week ban signed by former Gov. Doug Ducey (R) in 2022.
Late last month, Mays filed a motion with the court to keep the final mandate in place for 90 days, and the next day, Planned Parenthood of Arizona filed a motion with the state Supreme Court to keep the final order in the lawsuit in place until the repeal takes effect. I did it. .
“I continue to believe that this case was wrongly decided, and there are issues that merit additional judicial review,” Mays said. I wrote it on Monday. “I will do everything in my power to ensure that our physicians provide care to our patients in accordance with their best judgment and not the beliefs of the people who elected us to the territorial legislature 160 years ago.”
Mays said his office was determining the “best” legal course of action, which could include filing a case with the country’s highest court.
“Planned Parenthood Arizona continues to provide abortion care through the 15th week of pregnancy and remains focused on making abortion care as accessible to our patients as legally possible,” said President and CEO of Planned Parenthood Arizona. CEO Angela Flores said in a statement: She then added, “We will not be intimidated or silenced by anti-abortion extremists because our bodies and autonomy are at stake.” .
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