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

For nearly 50 years, the Arizona Legislature consistently protected life as much as possible under the constraints of Roe v. Wade. With Roeoverturned, Arizona’s pre-Roe law protecting all unborn life except to save the life of the mother should go back into effect. Center for Arizona Policy (CAP) made that argument to the Arizona Supreme Court in an amicus brief filed Monday. CAP asked the Court to reverse a lower court’s ruling that wrongly assumed state lawmakers didn’t really intend to protect the pre-Roe law when they acted again and again – to protect the pre-Roe law.

 State lawmakers kept the state’s pre-Roe law on the books as they passed dozens of laws protecting life while Roe forbade them from going further. In 2021, they passed a requirement that Arizona laws be interpreted to value all human life at every stage of development. And in 2022, knowing that Roe might be overturned soon, they emphasized their continuing commitment to protect life by specifically stating that they were notrepealing the pre-Roe law by passing a 15-week limitation just months before Roe was overturned.

 We have asked the Arizona Supreme Court to grant review and hold that the pre-Roe law means what it says, reverse the erroneous lower court ruling, and restrain the raw judicial power. Allowing the lower court ruling to stand threatens thousands of lives a year, as well as the integrity of the judiciary, and the Legislature’s power to govern.

 Samuel Green at Reason for Life and Steven Aden at Americans United for Life served as counsel on the brief.

Arizona House Speaker Ben Toma and Arizona Senate President Warren Petersen also filed an amicus brief spelling out the clear intent of the Legislature and asking the Court to honor the will of elected lawmakers to protect life in all possible circumstances. 

Your gift today will help us cover the cost of the amicus brief we filed. Please join us by donating here.