On Tuesday, the Arizona Supreme Court heard arguments in Planned Parenthood of Arizona v. May, a case involving Arizona’s abortion law.
In May, the Arizona Supreme Court agreed to review an appellate court’s ruling in the case. 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.
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.
Case timeline
- September 2022: The Arizona Superior Court in Pima County ruled that Arizona’s pre-Roe law protecting life could go into effect.
- December 2022: The Arizona Court of Appeals rewrote the law and enjoined the portion allowing for physicians to be prosecuted if they perform unlawful abortions. This decision effectively rendered the law unenforceable.
- March 2023: ADF attorneys asked the Arizona Supreme Court to restore the law.
- August 2023: The Arizona Supreme Court agreed to hear the case.