To our friends and allies, thank you for standing with us as we celebrate a landmark Arizona Supreme Court victory today. You will recall that we have advocated for this legal position: on January 22, 1973, Arizona law prohibited abortion unless necessary to save the life of the mother. When the U.S. Supreme Court issued its Roe v. Wade ruling, Arizona’s law was deemed unenforceable.

Our legal argument, in policy arenas and in a legal brief, argued that the overturning of Roe meant that Arizona’s pre-Roe law should once again be enforceable.

Today, the Arizona Supreme Court agreed. In this historic ruling, the Court upheld the pre-Roe law by a 4-2 vote. Justices John R. Lopez IV, Clint Bolick, James P. Beene, and Kathryn H. King formed the majority, with Lopez authoring the majority opinion. Vice Chief Justice Ann A. Scott Timmer wrote a dissenting opinion, joined by Chief Justice Robert M. Brutinel.

It’s important to note that today’s ruling was one of statutory construction, not one of constitutional significance.

Nothing changes today in Arizona. Enforcement is stayed for 14 days as the Court gave proponents 14 days from today to assert a constitutional challenge to the pre-Roe law. Another case in Maricopa County Superior Court stays enforcement for 45 days.

The Arizona Supreme Court reached the appropriate legal conclusion. Today’s outcome acknowledges the sanctity of all human life and spares women the physical and emotional harms of abortion. The Court’s jurisprudence rejected the notion of legislating from the bench.

Today’s decision preserves a system designed to be blind to all but the law, and in doing so, it upholds the right of life for all Arizonans.

Thank you for your years of standing with us in defense of the sanctity of human life and the health and well-being of mothers. Much work remains ahead of us.  

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