Reuss v. State of Arizona

In November 2024, Arizona voters overwhelmingly approved an amendment that enshrined abortion rights into the state’s constitution. The amendment, the Arizona Abortion Access Act, created 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.”

To ensure that Arizona’s laws aligned with the new amendment, the Center for Reproductive Rights and its partners filed a lawsuit in Maricopa County Superior Court on December 3, 2024, challenging the state’s 15-week abortion ban, S.B. 1164.

Passed by the state legislature in March 2022, the ban took effect in September 2022, after the U.S. Supreme Court’s June ruling eliminating the federal constitutional right to abortion.

The law criminalizes 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 subject to severe civil penalties and license revocation.

Filed on behalf of Arizona health care providers, the lawsuit argued that:

• The ban violates the Arizona Abortion Access Act by denying, restricting and interfering with the right to pre-viability abortion.
• By prohibiting health care providers from performing pre-viability abortion care, the ban violates a provision of the amendment that prohibits the state from penalizing anyone who aids or assists a pregnant person in exercising their right to abortion.

On the same day that the case was filed, the Arizona Attorney General agreed not to enforce the ban, concurring that it was unconstitutional under the Act and allowing doctors across the state to resume providing abortion care to patients after 15 weeks of pregnancy.

On March 5, 2025, a Maricopa County Superior Court judge issued an order permanently blocking the ban, declaring it unconstitutional under the Act.

Plaintiffs: Dr. Eric M. Reuss, M.D., M.P.H.; Dr. Paul A. Isaacson, M.D.; Planned Parenthood Arizona, Inc.

Center Attorneys: Gail Deady, Cici Coquillette, Olivia Roat

Co-Counsel/Cooperating Attorneys: The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU); the ACLU of Arizona; Planned Parenthood Federation of America; Perkins Coie LLP

Defendant: State of Arizona

Legal documents:

• Order Granting Motion for Judgment, 03.05.25
• Arizona Attorney General’s Stipulation of Non-Enforcement, 12.03.24
• Complaint, 12.03.24

Case news:

• Arizona Judge Permanently Blocks State’s 15-Week Abortion Ban, Declaring it Unconstitutional, 03.05.25
• Press release: Arizona 15-Week Abortion Ban Permanently Blocked Under Arizona Abortion Access Act, 03.05.25
• Enforcing Arizona’s New Abortion Rights Amendment, 12.05.24
• Press release: Arizona Health Care Providers File Lawsuit Challenging Abortion Ban and To Resume Providing Care Across the State, 12.03.24

December 03, 2024	The Center files a lawsuit challenging Arizona’s 15-week abortion ban to ensure the state’s laws align with the Arizona Abortion Access Act.
December 03, 2024	The Arizona Attorney General agrees that the ban is unconstitutional under the Act and that it will not be enforced.
March 05, 2025	A Maricopa County Superior Court judge permanently blocks the ban, declaring it unconstitutional under the Act.