On Monday, Planned Parenthood of Arizona asked a Pima County court to immediately stay a judge’s ruling that lifted an injunction on Arizona’s abortion statute. That statute, A.R.S. § 13-3603, prohibits people from performing abortions unless necessary to save the life of the mother.
The Arizona law in question was in effect on January 22, 1973, when Roe v. Wade was handed down by the U.S. Supreme Court, and it was reaffirmed by the Arizona Legislature in 1977.
Superior Court Judge Kellie Johnson lifted the 50-year-old injunction that became moot after the U.S. Supreme Court reversed its Roe v. Wade decision earlier this summer.
Planned Parenthood released the following statement:
Planned Parenthood Arizona is seeking an immediate stay of the Pima County Superior Court’s ruling that lifted the injunction on the state’s 1864 abortion ban. The court’s decision has allowed conflicting laws to take effect and has caused immediate confusion, even among our state’s highest elected officials, as to the status of abortion access in Arizona.
This confusion has forced Planned Parenthood Arizona to pause abortion services and cancel appointments scheduled this week – meaning that members of our community once again have been and will continue to be denied medical care that they deserve and need while this decision is in effect.
This is unacceptable. Planned Parenthood Arizona is therefore asking the court to issue a stay of its ruling while the legal process continues to unfold and we continue to seek clarity for our patients and providers.
Planned Parenthood of Arizona wanted Judge Johnson to modify the law, but she said that was not “procedurally or legally appropriate.”
“The Court finds that because the legal basis for the judgment entered in 1973 has now been overruled, it must vacate the judgment in its entirety,” the judge wrote. “The Court finds an attempt to reconcile fifty years of legislative activity procedurally improper in the context of the motion and record before it.”