Arizona court permanently blocks 15-week abortion ban

A court permanently blocked Arizona’s 15-week abortion ban from taking effect on Wednesday, months after Arizona residents voted to pass a ballot measure adding abortion rights into the state constitution.

“For two years, I’ve seen firsthand how our state’s abortion ban has harmed my patients, with countless lives and futures changed because politicians thought their views of the right healthcare was more important than pregnant people and their medical providers,” Dr Eric M Reuss, one of the healthcare providers who brought the lawsuit over Arizona’s 15-week ban, said in a statement.

The 15-week ban had already been paused since December, when Reuss and other providers filed their lawsuit, which argued that the ballot measure, which adds constitutional protections for abortion until about 24 weeks, meant the ban was now unconstitutional. Arizona’s attorney general, Democrat Kris Mayes, had agreed not to enforce the ban while litigation played out.

The short ruling on Wednesday, from Maricopa county superior court Judge Frank Moskowitz, agreed that the 15-week ban was unconstitutional and forbid Arizona officials from enforcing it.

Arizona spent much of 2024 at the center of the contentious US abortion wars, after a state supreme court agreed to let a near-total abortion ban take effect. The threat of that ban – which dated back to 1864, before Arizona had become a state – unleashed nationwide outrage. State legislators, including Republicans, quickly scrambled to repeal the 1864 ban and let the 15-week ban, which was already on the books, stand in its place.

Arizona then became one of seven states to pass pro-abortion rights ballot measures in the 2024 elections. However, these measures didn’t immediately restore or strengthen access to abortion – rather, activists have had to push for litigation or legislation to make good on the ballots’ promises. After a lengthy court battle, Missouri, which banned virtually all abortions before its residents voted in favor of a pro-abortion rights measure, has also now restored access to the procedure.

In a statement Wednesday, Nancy Northup, president and CEO of the Center for Reproductive Rights, vowed to continue trying to topple other barriers to abortion access in Arizona.

“Burdensome and pointless requirements leveled at abortion providers and mandatory waiting periods for patients continue to undermine the voters’ will,” Northrup said. “We will keep fighting to ensure that Arizonans get all the freedoms they voted for and rightfully expect.”