Abortions may continue until June 8, Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes tells providers
The earliest that Arizona's 1864 near-total abortion ban could take effect is June 8, Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes wrote Friday in a letter to medical providers.
Health care providers may continue providing abortions under the current law at least until June 8, Mayes wrote. Current law allows abortions up until 15 weeks gestation and makes an exception for medical emergencies.
The 1864 law, which the Arizona Supreme Court upheld on April 9, is a near-total ban that prohibits abortions in all circumstances, including rape and incest, with the only exception being to save the life of the mother.
“Absent any additional litigation or action by the legislature, the status quo remains in place concerning abortion law in our state until June 8," Mayes said in a written statement. “My office continues to explore all legal options available to prevent the 1864 near-total abortion ban from taking effect."
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The Arizona Supreme Court stayed enforcement of the 160-year-old abortion ban for 14 days to allow legal challenges that had not yet been heard, including challenges to the constitutionality of the law.
The Scottsdale-based Alliance Defending Freedom, which won the case before the state's top court, said enforcement of the ban could begin in 14 days. But Mayes, as well as providers, including Planned Parenthood, say abortion services will continue for another 45 days after the 14-day stay because of a Maricopa County Superior Court order.The mandate is scheduled to issue on April 24 and 45 days from that date is June 8.
Mayes met Thursday with more than 40 health providers around the state to better understand the issues they face, her office said, and last week met with abortion care providers, emergency room physicians, IVF specialists, obstetrician/gynecologists and others who work in reproductive health.“The heart-wrenching decisions doctors and nurses will have to make if this 1864 law takes effect are unconscionable,” Mayes said in the statement. “Instead of listening to medical professionals alive today, Republicans in the legislature would have Arizonans’ medical care dictated by men who lived 160 years ago at a time when women had few rights and Arizona wasn’t even a state."
The Arizona Medical Association is urging the Arizona Legislature to repeal the 1864 ban. In a statement issued Tuesday, association president Dr. William C. Thompson IV said that enforcing a law that was drafted before antiseptics were invented and X-rays were discovered "is absurd and irresponsible."
The physicians' group says that enforcing the 1864 ban will jeopardize the health, well-being and lives of pregnant people in Arizona and will disproportionately affect people of color, people living in rural areas of Arizona, and people with limited economic resources, "thereby increasing inequities that already plague the health care system."
Another problem for providers is that the pre-statehood law allows abortions only when necessary to save a patient's life and in all other circumstances, doctors face felony charges and prison time for performing one.
"However, there are no clear guidelines around how endangered someone's life must be to end a pregnancy, putting pregnant patients and physicians in emergency situations at higher risk of harm and criminalization," the doctor's group says.
"The House of Medicine is united," Thompson said. "We condemn governmental interference in the physician-patient relationship and reject laws criminalizing physicians for evidence-based procedures. Together, we are requesting legislators take the same stance."
Reproductive rights advocates are shoring up support for a November ballot initiative that would enshrine the right to abortion into the Arizona Constitution.
Republic reporter Stacey Barchenger contributed to this article
Reach healthcare reporter Stephanie Innes at [email protected] or follow her on X, formerly Twitter: @stephanieinnes.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: When does Arizona's abortion ban take effect? Here's what to know