In Arizona, a physician and the Arizona Medical Association have filed a declaratory judgment action in an Arizona trial court asking the court to clarify which of two competing laws on abortion is in effect in the state. The complaint (full text) in Isaacson v. State of Arizona, (AZ Super. Ct., filed 10/3/2022), explains:
3. Most recently, the Legislature passed, and Governor Ducey signed, a law permitting physicians to provide abortions through 15 weeks of pregnancy....
4. Since the Dobbs decision was issued on June 24, overturning Roe v. Wade, ... there has been significant confusion around the status of Arizona’s abortion laws, and specifically whether a near total criminal ban on abortion, A.R.S. § 13-3603 (the “Territorial Law”), that was enacted in 1901 but can be traced back to 1864, preempts dozens of existing abortion laws, including the 15-Week Law, and criminalizes otherwise legal, physician-provided abortion care. State officials with enforcement power have either refused to state which abortion laws take precedence or have taken inconsistent positions on the matter.
5. On July 13, 2022, the Arizona Attorney General filed a Rule 60(b) motion in the Pima County Superior Court seeking to lift an injunction of the Territorial Law that had been in place since 1973. On September 23, 2022, the Pima County Superior Court granted the Attorney General’s motion solely based on the decision in Dobbs overruling Roe v. Wade. The court declined to reconcile how the Territorial Law is to operate in harmony with Arizona’s more recent and much more robust statutory scheme governing physician-provided abortion care....
[Thanks to Courthouse News Service for the lead.]
