Arizona abortion providers vowed Wednesday to continue service until they’re forced to stop, a pledge that comes day after the state Supreme Court cleared the way for enforcing an 1864 law criminalizing abortion throughout pregnancy unless a woman’s life is at risk.
Quick Read
- Arizona abortion providers have committed to continuing services until legally mandated to cease, following a state Supreme Court decision that allows the enforcement of an 1864 law criminalizing abortion, except when the woman’s life is at risk.
- The law, which lacks exceptions for rape or incest, has caused widespread concern among women and healthcare professionals in Arizona.
- Efforts by Democrats and some Republicans to repeal the 1864 ban were blocked by GOP leaders in the state legislature, leading to protests from Democrats.
- Governor Katie Hobbs has urged the legislature to repeal the ban, highlighting the strong voter support for legal abortion in Arizona, as indicated by the 2022 midterm elections.
- Clinics like Camelback Family Planning in Phoenix continue to offer abortion services, hoping for emergency legislation to prevent interruptions.
- Anti-abortion groups, such as SBA Pro-Life America, oppose a proposed ballot initiative to enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution, arguing it would nullify existing pro-life laws.
- Former President Donald Trump has criticized the Arizona court’s decision and encouraged state lawmakers to amend the law, despite defending the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade.
- With the enforcement of the 1864 law, there is a scramble for abortion services in neighboring states, with clinics in Colorado, New Mexico, and Nevada preparing to accommodate Arizona patients.
- The Arizona ruling has particularly impacted Native Americans and other groups facing existing barriers to abortion access.
- Organizations like the Brigid Alliance and the Abortion Fund of Arizona are providing financial and logistical support to those needing to travel for abortion services.
- In contrast, anti-abortion pregnancy centers like Hands of Hope Tucson anticipate continuing their current operations under the new law.
- California has expanded abortion protections and is offering resources to out-of-state patients through the Abortion Safe Haven Project, alongside Planned Parenthood of the Pacific Southwest’s support services.
The Associated Press has the story:
Arizona abortion ruling upends legal, political landscape from Phoenix to Washington
Newslooks- PHOENIX (AP) —
Arizona abortion providers vowed Wednesday to continue service until they’re forced to stop, a pledge that comes day after the state Supreme Court cleared the way for enforcing an 1864 law criminalizing abortion throughout pregnancy unless a woman’s life is at risk.
The court decision rocked the state as women, including physicians, grappled with how to respond to a law that comes without exceptions for rape or incest.
State legislators convened as pressure mounted from Democrats and some Republicans, including former President Donald Trump, for them to intervene. House Democrats and at least one Republican tried to open discussion Wednesday on repealing the 1864 ban, but GOP leaders, who command the majority, shut it down twice and quickly adjourned. Outraged Democrats erupted in chants of “Shame! Shame! Shame!”
Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs earlier called on the Legislature to repeal the ban.
“They could do that today,” she told CBS News. “They could gavel in today and make a motion to repeal this.”
According to AP VoteCast, 6 out of 10 Arizona voters in the 2022 midterm elections said they would favor guaranteeing legal abortion nationwide. The state recorded 11,530 abortions in 2022, the last data available, according to the Department of Health Services.
At Camelback Family Planning in Phoenix, where about one-fourth of Arizona abortions are performed, registered nurse Ashleigh Feiring said abortion services were still available and that staff hope emergency legislation will avoid interruptions or closure.
“Our plan is to stay open as long as possible,” Feiring said. “Our clinic has been shut down twice in the last four years, but we’ve always resumed service.”
At the same time, anti-abortion groups including SBA Pro-Life America urged Arizona residents to oppose a proposed ballot initiative aimed at placing abortion rights in Arizona’s state constitution.
“They would wipe away all pro-life laws put in place by the Legislature, reflective of the will of the people,” SBA President Marjorie Dannenfelser said in a statement.
Hobbs, however, predicted that outrage will motivate voters to enshrine abortion rights in state law.
“The fight is not over for sure” she said.
Arriving for a campaign fundraiser in Atlanta, Trump said the Arizona court decision went too far and called on state lawmakers to change it even as he defended the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 ruling overturning of Roe v. Wade.
“It’s all about states’ rights,” the former president told supporters and journalists. “It’ll be straightened out.”
Since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, most Republican-controlled states have started enforcing new bans or restrictions, and most Democratic-dominated ones have sought to protect abortion access.
The Arizona ruling suggests doctors can be prosecuted for performing the procedure. The 1864 law carries a sentence of two to five years in prison for doctors or anyone else who assists in an abortion.
“Physicians are now on notice that all abortions, except those necessary to save a woman’s life, are illegal,” the Arizona Supreme Court said in its decision, adding that additional criminal and regulatory sanctions may apply to abortions performed after 15 weeks, the state’s previous time limit for the procedure.
Beyond that, the court ruling also ignited concern that enforcement might interfere with handling miscarriages.
Enforcing the 1864 law won’t begin for at least two weeks. However, plaintiffs in the case — including Planned Parenthood — said the delay could last up to two months, based on an agreement reached in a related case.
Planned Parenthood has said it will offer abortion services up to 15 weeks of pregnancy for at least two more months, in line with an agreement in the related case. ___ Associated Press writers Jacques Billeaud in Phoenix and Scott Sonner in Reno, Nevada, contributed to this report.
Arizona’s abortion ban is likely to cause a scramble for services in states where it’s still legal
Adrienne Mansanares expects a flurry of calls from patients in Arizona starting this week.
She’s the president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains, which has clinics that provide abortions in Colorado, New Mexico and Nevada. Mansanares said the clinics should be able to accommodate people who are seeking the procedure in the wake of an Arizona Supreme Court decision.
“That is still a very long way for patients to go for health care,” she added, noting that the clinics already have seen nearly 700 patients from Arizona since Roe v. Wade was overturned in June 2022.
Doctors and clinic leaders said there’ll be a scramble across the Southwest and West for abortion care due to Tuesday’s decision, which said officials may enforce an 1864 law criminalizing all abortions except when a woman’s life is at stake.
“People are going to have to start looking out of state,” said Dr. Maria Phillis, an Ohio OB-GYN who also has a law degree. “This is now another place where they can’t go safety to access care.”
On top of potentially long distances to states like New Mexico, California and Colorado, patients who used to go to Arizona from other states for abortion care will have to go elsewhere, Phillis said.
Plus, Arizona is home to more than 20 federally recognized tribes, and barriers are expected to be higher for Native Americans because of existing hurdles, such as a decades-old ban on most abortions at clinics and hospitals run by the federal Indian Health Service and fewer nearby health centers offering abortions.
Interstate travel for abortions nearly doubled between 2020 and 2023, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a research group that supports abortion rights. Out-of-state patients accounted for 16% of abortions obtained nationally, compared to 9% in 2020, the group said.
Guttmacher data scientist Isaac Maddow-Zimet said that when bans go into effect, more people travel to less restrictive or non-restrictive states, but “not everybody is able to” travel.
Traveling could mean pushing abortions later into pregnancy as people try to get appointments and potentially face mandatory waiting periods. According to results of a periodic survey spearheaded by Middlebury College economics professor Caitlin Myers, waits in several states stretched for two or three weeks at various points since federal abortion protections were overturned; some clinics had no available appointments.
The Brigid Alliance works nationally to help people who need abortions receive financial and logistical support like airfare, child care, lodging and other associated costs. Last year, it helped 26 people travel out of Arizona to get abortions.
Interim executive director Serra Sippel expects the number of calls from Arizona residents to grow.
People that the alliance has helped go out of state — mostly from Georgia, Texas and Florida — have seen backlogs stretching to four to five weeks because of higher demand, Sippel said. Some get bounced between clinics because their pregnancy has passed the point that they can get care there.
“With a pregnancy, every moment counts,” said Sippel, who added that delays can have serious repercussions. Phillis noted procedures done later in a pregnancy could take longer and be slightly more complicated.
The Abortion Fund of Arizona, which helps people travel for abortions both in and out of state, said out-of-state clinics have required patients to stay to take the second pill used in medication abortions because of concerns about liability. That means multi-day trips, said Eloisa Lopez, executive director of Pro-Choice Arizona and the abortion fund.
“We’re looking at anywhere from $1,000 to $2,000 per person for travel expenses, with their abortion procedure expense,” Lopez said.
The fund is talking with municipalities in Arizona to see if they can create their own abortion funds.
Meanwhile, in Tucson, a CEO of a pregnancy center that opposes abortion said things are likely to stay the same under the new law. Hands of Hope Tucson has been around for 43 years, is about 200 steps from a Planned Parenthood clinic and is pretty busy, CEO Joanie Hammond said.
“We’re just coming alongside women and men who are facing an unexpected pregnancy … We’ve always been about the women and about the babies,” she told the AP. “At the pregnancy center, I see the women and I see what happens to them after they go through that abortion experience. We just want to be there to help them in the next step for healing and whatever they need.”
For Arizona residents who are closer to California, which expanded its abortion protections after Roe v. Wade was overturned, officials are pointing people toward the Abortion Safe Haven Project. Created by the state and Los Angeles County, the project has guidance and resources for out-of-state patients.
Planned Parenthood of the Pacific Southwest put out a statement this week from president and CEO Darrah DiGiorgio Johnson, saying it supports out-of-state patients with navigation services to help them tackle logistical barriers to care.
