12 AZ county attorneys ask governor to rescind executive order limiting abortion prosecutions
Twelve Arizona county attorneys — all but three of them — are requesting Gov. Katie Hobbs rescind her executive order limiting prosecutions related to abortion. The county attorneys made the request in a letter to Hobbs sent late Monday.
The order, signed June 22, gives state Attorney General Kris Mayes the power to handle any attempted county prosecution under state abortion laws, bans state agencies from assisting investigations for alleged violations in other states and bans extradition of people accused of violating other states' abortion laws.
In the letter, the county attorneys say the order runs contrary to the status quo in Arizona, which they argue gives them discretion over criminal prosecutions unless state law provides otherwise.
"The governor’s office should not interfere with the discretion of prosecutors in fulfilling their duties as elected officials," the letter states. "Whether this was the intended purpose, the result is an unnecessary and unjustified impingement on the duties and obligations of elected county attorneys in Arizona."
The county attorneys say the order sets a dangerous precedent that could be abused by the executive branch in the future.
“This executive order results in an exercise of authority not vested in the governor’s office. It is a substantial overreach to suggest the governor may strip away prosecutorial discretion from local, elected officials,” Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell wrote in a letter to the governor.
She and her colleagues requested Hobbs rescind a section of the order which gives authority over abortion-related criminal prosecutions to the Attorney General, as well as another section of the order that reads: "insofar as it would limit access to criminal history records or crime lab support." The letter asks Hobbs to act by July 7, Friday.
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House Speaker Ben Toma on Monday asked Hobbs to immediately rescind another executive order, one that bans the use of any state or federal funds to support conversion therapy.
Hobbs issued the order on June 27, saying it’s intended to protect LGBTQ+ youth from harmful attempts at conversion therapy. The therapy has been discredited by scientists as a method to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity.
The order is “unprecedented, vague, unintelligible and unenforceable,” Toma R-Glendale wrote. The governor’s definition of conversion therapy doesn’t exist in state law, he said, as he predicted it will lead to “inevitable confusion” among state agencies on how to carry out Hobbs’ order and could lead to constitutional challenges.
In response to the letter from the county attorneys, the governor's communications Director Christian Slater said Hobbs would not rescind the order.
"Governor Hobbs will never stop fighting for reproductive freedoms in Arizona," Slater said. "She will continue to use her lawful executive authority to put sanity over chaos and protect everyday Arizonans from extremists who are threatening to prosecute women and doctors over reproductive healthcare.”
Republic reporters Mary Jo Pitzl and Ray Stern contributed to this article.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: 12 AZ county attorneys want Hobbs to rescind abortion executive order
