Arizona must stop enforcing older abortion restrictions that predate and conflict with a 2024 voter-approved constitutional amendment guaranteeing abortion rights, a judge ordered in a ruling released Friday. Maricopa Superior Court Judge Greg Como said the state’s continued enforcement of the older provisions creates unnecessary hurdles for people seeking abortions and interferes with how medical decisions are made.
Como’s order targeted multiple requirements contained in older laws that he said limit patients’ access and effectively mandate medical procedures and disclosures regardless of patients’ needs. In his ruling, Como said the restrictions include provisions that would bar an abortion sought because a fetus has a non-fatal genetic abnormality.
The judge also criticized rules that require patients to see a doctor twice, with at least 24 hours between visits, before they can obtain an abortion. He said the structure of those requirements interferes with autonomous decision-making by effectively adding steps beyond what patients and doctors consider medically necessary.
Como further found fault with older abortion laws that require abortion seekers to undergo ultrasounds and Rh blood testing. He also said the restrictions bar doctors from prescribing abortion pills by telehealth and from mailing the pills to patients, describing pills as the most common way abortions are obtained.
Como wrote, “Each of these laws infringe on a woman’s ‘autonomous decision making’ by mandating medical procedures and disclosure of information regardless of the patient’s needs and wishes,” according to the ruling reported by the Associated Press. The state’s Democratic attorney general, Kris Mayes, supported the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, according to the report.
The case was brought by two obstetricians and the Arizona Medical Association, which sued last year over the continued enforcement of the older rules. The plaintiffs argued that the 2024 constitutional amendment guarantees a fundamental right to abortion and specifically bars Arizona from enacting or enforcing laws that deny, restrict or interfere with that right before fetal viability.
In court, two senior legislative Republicans intervened in support of the restrictions: House Speaker Steve Montenegro and Senate President Warren Petersen. Peterson’s office said the ruling will be appealed.
A member of the Arizona Medical Association board, Dr. Laura Mercer, said in a statement Friday that “My patients will no longer be forced to make additional unnecessary visits for care, nor will I be required to give them disinformation that stigmatizes abortion.” Ingrid Duran, the National Right to Life Committee’s state legislative director, told the Associated Press she was disappointed but not surprised by the ruling and said the group intends to work on educating people in Arizona about its position.
Abortion law in the U.S. has been in flux since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022 and cleared the way for states to ban abortion. Even after voters in Arizona approved the new abortion-rights amendment, older restrictions remained on the books, setting the stage for further challenges in court.