Court’s Ruling Not the Last Word on Abortion Law

A Statement from Center for Arizona Policy President, Cathi Herrod, Esq.

 The fight to protect unborn life and women from the harms of abortion does not end with an Arizona Court of Appeals ruling. The three-judge panel’s decision today only temporarily blocks Arizona’s abortion law, which was in place in 1973 when Roe was wrongly decided.

The U.S. Supreme Court’s opinion in Dobbs clearly affirms abortion law is to be decided by elected lawmakers, not the courts. Arizona lawmakers not only decided the state’s abortion law but affirmed the pre-Roe law in 1977, and again when they had opportunities to repeal the law but refused. Also, this year, the Legislature specifically included language that the law is not to be repealed with the passage of the 15-week limitation.

I am confident Arizona’s pre-Roe law limiting abortion to cases where the mother’s life is at risk will be upheld by Arizona’s Supreme Court.