Filed in state court, the lawsuit seeks to clarify doctors’ obligations under multiple, conflicting abortion laws, which have forced providers to cease abortion services for fear of criminal prosecution.  

In 1973, after the U.S. Supreme Court recognized the constitutional right to abortion in Roe v. Wade, the state’s Civil War-era total abortion ban (A.R.S. 13-3603) was enjoined. The criminal ban contains no exceptions for rape, incest, or threats to a pregnant person’s health, and threatens imprisonment up to five years for providers who violate the law.  

After the U.S. Supreme Court eliminated the constitutional right to abortion in June 2022, however, a Pima County Superior Court Judge granted the Arizona Attorney General’s request to lift the injunction that had blocked enforcement of the criminal ban. That decision, issued on September 23, 2022, forced clinics to stop providing abortion care to avoid criminal penalties. 

Arizona had enacted a 15-week abortion ban in March 2022, which took effect on September 24, 2022, the day after the Civil-War era total ban was reinstated. The 15-week ban would enable physicians to provide abortion care without risk of criminal prosecution and allow abortion services to resume in the state. 

On October 3, 2022, the Center for Reproductive Rights and its partners filed Paul A. Isaacson, M.D., and the Arizona Medical Association v. State of Arizona, asking the Maricopa County Superior Court to clarify the state’s abortion laws and how they interact and work in practice—particularly, how the Civil War-era total abortion ban interacts with more recent laws on the books that recognize legal abortion. 

On October 25, 2022, the State of Arizona announced that it will not enforce the total ban until 45 days after the final mandate on the law is issued in a separate case.  

Abortion services are currently legal for the first 15 weeks of pregnancy in Arizona, per the law passed in March 2022. 

Center Attorneys: Gail Deady, Cici Coquillette, and Jasmine Yunus 

Co-Counsel/Cooperating Attorneys: American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), ACLU of Arizona, and Perkins Coie 

Plaintiffs: Paul A. Isaacson, M.D. and Arizona Medical Association, on behalf of itself and its members

Timeline:

Legal documents:

• Verified Complaint for Declaratory Relief, 10.3.22

Read more:

• Center Lawsuit Seeks to Restore Abortion Access in Arizona by Blocking a Civil War-Era Abortion Ban, 10.4.22
• Press Release: Lawsuit Filed to Restore Abortion Access in Arizona, 10.4.22