Arizona Court of Appeals Suspends Abortion Restrictions

With this decision, the appeals court is once again allowing abortions in Arizona under certain circumstances. Of course, for now, that’s up to the state Supreme Court’s ruling.

A three-judge panel sided with Planned Parenthood, arguing that the trial judge should not lift a decades-old ban that has prevented the law’s application.

Judge Peter J. In the decision written by Eckerstrom, we can read that Planned Parenthood and its Arizona division succeeded in proving that the Tucson court judge should have considered passing a series of laws regulating abortion much later. The United States Supreme Court in Roe v. Used since 1973.

Of these subsequent laws, the most recent went into effect last month and bans abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy.

Last June, the US Supreme Court overturned a landmark ruling that granted women the constitutional right to an abortion for nearly 50 years. Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich, a Republican, took the opportunity to ask the court to temporarily suspend the ban blocking the application of the old law banning abortion. Judge Kelly Johnson agreed to intervene on her behalf on September 23 and lifted the injunction two weeks ago.

Specialty clinics in Arizona stopped performing abortions after the US Supreme Court ruling, but many operations resumed over the summer. They were reassured by a federal judge’s decision to suspend a law allowing criminal charges to be filed against medical personnel. However, with Judge Johnson’s decision, the clinics were closed again.

In the Court of Appeal’s case, the justices erred in limiting their analysis to the prosecutor’s request to lift the ban on grounds of invalidity in Roe v. use According to them, it should take into account all other laws regulating abortion since 1973.

The Court of Appeals will hold a new hearing next week to determine whether to put in place an accelerated timeline for hearing Planned Parenthood’s full appeal in the case.