It's OK to help someone get an out-of-state abortion, Arizona governor says

Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs says that anyone in the state who helps a pregnant Arizonan to obtain an abortion out of state will not face criminal charges.

Hobbs, a Democrat, on Friday afternoon, issued a written statement that says an executive order on abortion that she signed on June 23, 2023, provides "protections for anyone involved in seeking abortion care," including "any person helping a woman obtain an abortion," even under the 1864 near-total abortion ban that was upheld by the Arizona Supreme Court this week.

Hobbs' statement was in response to an April 11 Republic story about concerns from some providers about facing prosecution for helping pregnant people obtain an abortion outside of Arizona.

Arizona's extreme abortion ban has vague enough language that it could be interpreted as meaning providers and even regular civilians are at risk of prosecution for helping someone go out of state to obtain an abortion.

While it's rare for states with restrictive abortion laws to prosecute people for aiding someone to get care across state lines, some jurisdictions have made efforts to do so. In one example, an Idaho woman and her son were charged with kidnapping in November after prosecutors said they took the son’s minor girlfriend to Oregon for an abortion, the Associated Press reported.

"As Arizonans continue to grapple with this new reality, I want to be very clear: my executive order provides protections for anyone involved in seeking abortion care," Hobbs' statement said. "That includes women and their loved ones, doctors and other healthcare providers, and any person helping a woman obtain an abortion."

Hobbs wrote that she "will not let overzealous county attorneys take this as an opportunity to target any individual and that "as long as I am governor, no Arizonan will be prosecuted by extremist county attorneys for seeking abortion care.”

Eloisa Lopez, executive director of the Abortion Fund of Arizona, said in a statement that accessing abortions requires an ecosystem of care that her organization is firmly committed to being part of, in spite of the 1864 ban.

"We don't take the risks associated with our work or the importance of this executive order for granted, especially given that many of our callers may be traveling through counties where they could be targeted for seeking abortion care," she wrote.

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Reach health care reporter Stephanie Innes at [email protected] or follow her on X, formerly Twitter: @stephanieinnes.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Katie Hobbs: It's OK to help a pregnant Arizonan obtain an abortion