PHOENIX - Arizona's Republican attorney general announced Wednesday that a pre-statehood law banning abortions is enforceable and that he will soon file for the removal of an injunction that has blocked it for nearly 50 years.
Attorney General Mark Brnovich said after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned its 1973 decision that abortion was a constitutional right, he was weighing whether the old law could be enforced.
His decision puts him at odds with the Republican Gov. The governor had said after he signed a new law banning abortions in March that it took precedence over the law in place since 1901, 11 years before Arizona statehood.
The abortion opponents who wrote the new law and the Republican state senator who sponsored it, Nancy Barto, argued that the old law could be enforced. They pointed out a provision that said it did not override that law.
The Legislature has made its intentions clear with regards to abortion laws, according to Brmovich on Twitter. ARS 13-3603 the pre-statehood law is back in effect and will not be repealed when the new law takes effect in late September.
C.J. Ducey spokesman was C.J. Karamargin, the governor's office, was reviewing Brnovich's decision and had no immediate comment.
The old law states that anyone who helps a pregnant woman obtain an abortion can be sentenced to two to five years in prison. Abortion clinics across Arizona stopped providing the procedures within a few hours of the Supreme Court ruling. They cited concerns that the old law could be enforced.
The group was outraged by Brnovich decision, which came after providers and patients had been in distress since Friday, according to Planned Parenthood Arizona President and CEO Brittany Forteno.
She said that our extremist attorney general plans to reinstate an antiquated 1901 law that will ban all abortion in Arizona until the new law takes effect. It is unconscionable and completely out of line with the 7 in 10 Arizonans who support abortion access. A law that grants eggs and fetuses all rights is also on the books, as well as the total ban. Abortion rights advocates are asking a judge who refused to block it last year because of Roe v. Wade's decision to reconsider his decision. The judge blocked the ban on abortions because of a fetal genetic abnormality.
An estimated 7,000 to 8,000 abortion rights protesters gathered at the state Capitol after the Supreme Court decision.
State police used tear gas to disperse the crowd after a group of protesters started banging on the state Senate's glass front and one person tried to kick in a sliding glass door. No arrests or injuries were reported Friday night, but protests continued for two days and several people were arrested.
Brnovich is among several Republicans who are trying to get a U.S. Senate nomination in the Aug. 2 primary.
In Arizona, there were just over 13,000 abortions in 2020, according to the most recent report from the Arizona Department of Health Services. After 15 weeks of gestation, fewer than 650 were performed.