Arizona attorney general asks court to unblock abortion ban

PHOENIX (AP) — Arizona's Republican attorney general on Wednesday asked a court to lift an injunction blocking the enforcement of a law that bans all abortions except when the life of the mother is at risk.

The filing from Attorney General Mark Brnovich asks a court in Tucson to lift an order in place since shortly after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1973's Roe v. Wade case that abortions are a constitutional right.

The newly conservative high court overturned that decision last month, leaving it again to the states to decide how to regulate abortions. Arizona's near-total ban on abortions has been on the books since at least 1901, and Brnovich said with Roe overturned it should now be enforceable.

“We believe this is the best and most accurate state of the law,” Brnovich said in a statement. “We know this is an important issue to so many Arizonans, and our hope is that the court will provide clarity and uniformity for our state.”

Brnovich, who is running for U.S. Senate, announced late last month that the old abortion ban was enforceable and that he would seek to have the injunction lifted.

Providers across the state stopped abortions after the Supreme Court's June 24 opinion, saying it was too risky to move ahead with the old ban still on the books and with a 2021 law that grants all rights to pre-born children also in play.

A federal judge on Monday blocked that law after abortion rights groups successfully argued that it was unconstitutionally vague. The judge agreed that it was unclear what criminal laws abortion providers may be breaking if they perform otherwise-legal abortions.

Abortion rights groups slammed Brnovich for moving to again allow enforcement of the pre-statehood ban

“It is outrageous that Arizona’s Attorney General is trying to revive this...