Two doctors and the Arizona Planned Parenthood affiliate filed a lawsuit Tuesday to invalidate a 15-week abortion ban, Arizona Mirror reported. The move comes a week after state officials certified the election results, adding an abortion-rights amendment to the state constitution, according to the Mirror.
More than 60% of voters marked “yes” last month on Proposition 139, a measure that restores the right to an abortion up to fetal viability with exceptions later in pregnancy to save the life or health of the patient. The amendment also protects providers and others from prosecution for helping abortion patients.
Advocates in Missouri, where abortion was also on the ballot this year, did not wait long to take legal action.
A day after a majority of voters approved an abortion-rights initiative, Planned Parenthood clinics sued over targeted regulations of abortion providers, Missouri Independent reported. Missouri has a near-total abortion ban on the books, but Amendment 3 restoring reproductive rights is set to take effect at the end of the week.
Unlike Arizona, where Democrats supportive of reproductive rights hold top offices, Missouri’s leading elected officials are Republicans who have opposed abortion rights and the campaign behind the initiative.
GOP leaders in Ohio, where 57% of voters endorsed a reproductive rights amendment last year, also tried to stymie that effort. Even though abortion access is restored there, a court case over the state’s six-week ban is expected to continue long into 2025.
Ohio’s Republican attorney general is appealing a lower court decision that struck down the ban. Other lawsuits are pending over regulations — a 24-hour waiting period for abortions and restrictions on telehealth, Ohio Capital Journal reported. Both regulations are paused for now.
If or when those cases make it to the state Supreme Court, a bench with six Republicans and one Democrat will gauge those laws’ constitutionality. GOP candidates won all three races in November for spots on Ohio’s top court.
