Enforcing Arizona’s New Abortion Rights Amendment

In November, Arizona voters overwhelmingly approved an amendment to their state constitution to protect the right to abortion.

To ensure that Arizona’s laws align with the new amendment, the Center for Reproductive Rights and its partners filed a lawsuit on December 2 challenging the state’s 15-week abortion ban that has been in effect since 2022.

“Arizonans voted overwhelmingly to enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution,” said Nancy Northup, the Center’s president and CEO, in a statement. “We are going to court to challenge the state’s 15-week abortion ban and ensure that these constitutional rights are vindicated.”

The Arizona Abortion Access Act creates a “fundamental right” to receive abortion care up until fetal viability, with exceptions after that to “protect the life or physical or mental health of the pregnant individual.” The Act was officially added to the state’s constitution on November 25.

The lawsuit, filed on behalf of Arizona health care providers, argues that the ban violates the new amendment by denying, restricting and interfering with the right to pre-viability abortion. The lawsuit also argues that by prohibiting health care providers from performing pre-viability abortion care, the ban violates a provision of the amendment prohibiting the state from penalizing anyone who aids or assists a pregnant person in exercising their right to abortion.

“As a physician, I see firsthand the devastating impact restrictive abortion laws have on my patients and their families,” said Dr. Paul Isaacson, M.D., obstetrician and gynecologist at Family Planning Associates Medical Group and a long-time Center client. “I joined this lawsuit because I believe that health care decisions should be made in the exam room—between a patient and their doctor—not dictated by political agendas.”

Arizona Abortion Ban Took Effect in 2022 After the U.S. Supreme Court Overturned Roe

After nearly a half century of legal, pre-viability abortion in Arizona, in March 2022 the state legislature passed S.B. 1164, which criminalized virtually all abortion care after 15 weeks into pregnancy, except in narrowly defined medical emergencies. Physicians who “intentionally or knowingly” violated the ban would be guilty of a felony and also subject to severe civil penalties and license revocation. The ban went into effect in September 2022, after the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in June eliminating the federal constitutional right to abortion.

“The constitutional amendment voters approved last month made it clear that Arizonans value the right to access safe, compassionate care, including abortion,” continued Dr. Isaacson. “Yet, the 15-week ban forces us to withhold essential care from patients, even when their health or future is at risk. My patients deserve better. I am hopeful that the courts will honor the will of the people and restore their right to make deeply personal decisions about their own bodies.”

The Arizona Attorney General has agreed that the 15-week ban is now unconstitutional under the Arizona Constitution and has agreed not to enforce it while litigation proceeds.

The case, Reuss v. Arizona, filed in Maricopa County Superior Court, was brought by Dr. Eric M. Reuss, M.D., M.P.H., Dr. Paul A. Isaacson, M.D., and Planned Parenthood Arizona, Inc., represented by the Center and the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Arizona, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, and Perkins Coie LLP.