On Wednesday, the Arizona Supreme Court announced that it will review an appellate court’s ruling in Planned Parenthood of Arizona v. Mayes. The lower court’s ruling rewrote the state’s pro-life law and thwarted the Arizona Legislature’s intent.
The court also entered an injunction that halted the law from taking effect.
In the case, Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys representing Dr. Eric Hazelrigg, an obstetrician and medical director of Choices Pregnancy Center in Arizona, filed a petition in March asking the state’s high court to review the lower court’s ruling, which it agreed to do.
“Arizona women deserve the dignity and respect that comes from receiving life-affirming health care and support—not the abortion industry’s false choice between doing what’s best for the mother and protecting the life of her child,” said ADF Senior Counsel Denise Harle, director of the ADF Center for Life. “We urge the Arizona Supreme Court to allow the state’s pro-life law to take effect and protect the lives of countless innocent, unborn children.”
In September 2022, the Arizona Superior Court in Pima County appointed Hazelrigg as the guardian ad litem to legally represent the best interests of unborn children in Arizona. The court also ruled that after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe, the state is free to protect the lives of unborn children and the health and safety of mothers by enforcing its pre-Roe v. Wade law. ADF attorneys argued for that result in a brief filed in August 2022, asking the court to grant then Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich’s request to lift a nearly 50-year-old injunction against the state’s pro-life law, which the court had previously blocked based on Roe.
In May, a number of pro-life advocacy groups, Arizona state legislators, and 17 states united in support of protecting unborn lives and women’s health by filing friend-of-the-court briefs with the Arizona Supreme Court.