PHOENIX (CN) — One year after the U.S. Supreme Court upended a nearly 50-year precedent protecting abortion rights across the country, Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs has taken action to ensure reproductive health care for all Arizonans.
Amid nationwide uncertainty, the Democratic governor signed an executive order Thursday bolstering abortion access for Arizonans and protecting abortion-seekers from potential prosecution.
The order gives all prosecuting authority over medical providers and patients seeking abortions to Democratic Attorney General Kris Mayes, taking away county attorneys’ ability to prosecute on an individual basis to “provide unity and ensure consistent application of the law across the state.”
Mayes said she’ll use her power to protect abortion access for those who need it.
“Together, we will continue to do what the voters of Arizona elected us to do,” she said in a Friday press release. “Fight like hell to protect the rights of Arizonans to make their own private medical decisions without interference from extremist politicians and anti-choice groups."
The order also bans state agencies from assisting other states in investigations into Arizonans for abortion actions in those states that aren’t against Arizona law, and bans the extradition of Arizonans to other states for those actions.
Finally, it creates an advisory council intended to “expand access to sexual and reproductive health care in Arizona.” Hobbs will appoint the council members to be representative of the “medical, social service, public health and advocacy communities.”
“I made a promise to Arizonans that I would do everything in my power to protect reproductive freedom, and this executive order reflects that promise,” Hobbs said in the press release. “I will not allow extreme and out of touch politicians to get in the way of the fundamental right Arizonans have to make decisions about their own bodies and futures. I will continue to fight to expand access to safe and legal abortion in any way that I can.”
Hobbs signed the executive order two days before the one-year anniversary of the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which arose after Mississippi lawmakers moved to ban all abortions after 15 weeks. The Supreme Court’s decision overruled Roe v Wade, the 1973 case that declared state regulation of abortion unconstitutional and protected those rights across the board for 49 years. Most abortion clinics in Arizona stopped providing abortions immediately following the new ruling, fearing prosecution.
Abortions in Arizona are legal only within the first 15 weeks of pregnancy under a law dating back to when Arizona was only a territory. It’s one of four states that ban abortion after a specific timeframe in the pregnancy, which would have been unconstitutional under Roe. An Arizona court of appeals decision in December that confirmed medical providers can’t be prosecuted for performing abortions through 15 weeks, or later in the case of a medical emergency, is awaiting review in the Arizona Supreme Court. The 1864 law still criminalizes anyone who isn’t a medical provider who assists in an abortion in any way.
Hobbs said in the executive order that remaining legal questions can lead county attorneys to “make disparate decisions on whether and how to prosecute the same, or similar, conduct relating to abortion care, and could have a chilling effect that deters and restricts access to lawful abortion care.”
Centralizing all abortion-related prosecution under the attorney general’s office and refusing to cooperate with other states looking to enforce their own laws on Arizonans, Hobbs reasoned, will ensure that citizens are given their fullest freedoms under state law.
Cathi Herrod, president of the Center for Arizona Policy, a nonprofit advocacy group that promotes “life, marriage and family, and religious freedom,” sees the action not as a logical step, but as an overstep.
“Governor Hobbs has exceeded her authority as governor,” Herrod said in an email. “The law does not allow her to strip county attorneys of their clear enforcement authority as granted in various Arizona laws. On the anniversary of Dobbs, the better approach would be for Governor Hobbs to fulfill her pledge to serve all Arizonans, starting with coming together to find ways to serve the needs of pregnant women.”
Planned Parenthood Arizona didn’t reply to a request for comment.
A 2022 survey conducted in Arizona, California and Texas found that Republicans in Arizona are split between those who support the current status quo and those who want abortion access even more restricted. But 62% of Democrats in the state say abortions should be easier to obtain.
And that just may happen, if a potential 2024 ballot measure gets off the ground. Bré Thomas, CEO of the reproductive and sexual health nonprofit Affirm, said in a Thursday press conference that the group is planning to get abortion rights for gestation past 15 weeks on the next ballot, though details haven’t been finalized.
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