A Maricopa County Superior Court judge on Tuesday permanently blocked Arizona’s 15-week abortion ban.
Arizona lawmakers in 2022 passed a law to prohibit abortions after 15 weeks of gestation. Then in 2024, Arizona voters passed a constitutional amendment expanding abortion access to the point of fetal viability – around 24 weeks – with some exceptions beyond that.
But the new amendment to the Arizona Constitution did not automatically overturn the 15-week ban. So a group of Arizona doctors and the ACLU filed a lawsuit in December to get the conflicting law blocked.
No anti-abortion groups stepped in to defend the law and the judge sided with the doctors, declaring the 15-week law unconstitutional.
Some Arizona abortion providers have already resumed performing abortions beyond 15 weeks, since Attorney General Kris Mayes submitted a stipulation to the court when the lawsuit was filed, saying the state would not enforce the 15-week law while the case was pending.
This is expected to be the first of several lawsuits resulting from the new amendment, since Arizona has dozens of other abortion restrictions still on the books.
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Republican gubernatorial hopeful Andy Biggs has chosen a former state senator who sought to define in state law who is male and who is female as his running mate. -
Planned Parenthood Arizona clinics are once again providing care for patients insured through Medicaid. Services for Medicaid patients had been on pause since September. -
Arizona voters added abortion protections to the state’s constitution two years ago, but reproductive rights advocates say their fight is far from over. -
Prescribing abortion medications via telehealth was previously banned by a state law. But a court ruling in February voided that, and several other abortion regulations in Arizona. -
The case involves state laws that ban certain advanced practice clinicians like specially trained nurse practitioners from providing abortion services — something they’ve historically done.
