Center Challenges Arizona Abortion Restrictions as Violations of Voter-Approved Constitutional Amendment
This case marks a victory in the Center’s ongoing efforts to bring state laws in line with new constitutional protections for abortion rights.
Summary
In its second case brought under Arizona’s new voter-approved constitutional amendment protecting abortion rights, the Center for Reproductive Rights filed a lawsuit with its partners on May 22, 2025, challenging three groups of laws encompassing dozens of statutes and regulations that remained in effect.
The Arizona Abortion Access Act, passed in 2024, enshrines the fundamental right to abortion in the state constitution and subjects any interference with that right to the highest level of constitutional scrutiny. The state of Arizona did not defend the restrictions challenged in this case. Instead, Arizona state legislators stepped in to defend them.
On February 6, 2026, an Arizona state court permanently blocked the challenged restrictions, ruling that these and other restrictions violate the state’s constitutional amendment protecting the right to abortion. This decision will significantly expand abortion access in the state, allowing patients to get time-sensitive care in their communities.
For the first time in a long time, my patients will not have to jump through hoops to get the care they need. I became an OB-GYN to provide compassionate care to my patients, but these restrictions have stood in the way of that. Finally, I can help patients as they decide what’s best for themselves without interference from the state.
Dr. Paul Isaacson, OB-GYN & co-owner of the Family Planning Associates Medical Group
About the case
Brought on behalf of Arizona doctors, the case challenged restrictions including:
- Laws banning abortion based on the patient’s reason for seeking the abortion, forcing doctors to turn away patients if they even suspect that a fetal genetic diagnosis is the reason for the patient seeking care.
- Laws forcing providers to present patients with biased and inaccurate information about abortion in person and then requiring patients to wait at least 24 hours before obtaining abortion care. This requires two separate trips to the provider, delaying Arizonans’ ability to obtain constitutionally protected, time-sensitive care.
- A prohibition on providers’ use of telemedicine for medication abortion, including a ban on the mailing of abortion pills.
These laws violated the constitutional amendment by:
- Denying, restricting, and/or interfering with pregnant patients’ fundamental right to access abortion care before viability.
- Penalizing providers for helping patients to exercise that right.
In his decision, Judge Gregory Como ruled that abortion restrictions that override patient autonomy and have no medical justification cannot stand: “The Challenged Laws’ universal suppression of medical judgment and choice […] renders them invalid in all circumstances.”
This latest victory follows another Center win, striking down the state’s abortion ban. In an earlier Center case in Arizona, in March a state judge permanently blocked Arizona’s 15-week abortion ban, declaring it unconstitutional under the same 2024 amendment. The ban had taken effect in 2022, after the U.S. Supreme Court eliminated the federal constitutional right to abortion.
Both cases align with the Center’s strategy of enforcing and expanding state constitutional protections for abortion rights.
Case detailsNo one should be forced to wait for time-sensitive care or listen to disinformation about abortion. Anti-abortion lawmakers in Arizona want to override the will of the people, but we refuse to let them.
Caroline Sacerdote, CRR Senior Attorney
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