Planned Parenthood Fights Arizona Attorney General’s Attempt to Reinstate Near-Total Abortion Ban
For Immediate Release: July 20, 2022
PHOENIX, AZ — Planned Parenthood Arizona filed a response in Pima County, Arizona superior court today opposing Attorney General Mark Brnovich’s motion to vacate an injunction that previously blocked enforcement of the state’s near-total pre-Roe criminal abortion ban that dates back more than 100 years. Brnovich filed the motion last week, claiming that following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade and end the federal constitutional right to abortion last month, Arizona’s law should go back to what it was before Roe when the State prosecuted physicians for providing abortions.
As Planned Parenthood Arizona explains in its response, the motion filed by AG Brnovich blatantly ignores that Arizona today has dozens of laws that were enacted by the Arizona legislature in the last 50 years that plainly permit physicians to provide abortions. The AG cannot override these more recent laws in one fell swoop by seeking to revive the pre-Roe, near total criminal ban—a result that lacks popular electoral support.
“Attorney General Bronvich is playing politics at the expense of Arizonans' lives, and it’s not just despicable and legally unfounded — it’s dangerous,” said Brittany Fonteno, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Arizona. “We know that Arizonans are overwhelmingly in favor of abortion access, and Planned Parenthood will continue to fight these attacks to ensure that everyone gets the health care they need and deserve. Arizona lawmakers have passed numerous laws over the past 50 years allowing physicians to provide abortion. No archaic, harmful 150-year-old law should dictate our reproductive freedom and how we live our lives today. We won’t go back. ”
Planned Parenthood Arizona, Inc. is represented by attorneys from Planned Parenthood Federation of America and the Phoenix-based law firm Coppersmith Brockelman.
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