Arizona won't see a gap in abortion access after all

Women in Arizona won’t be denied access to abortion, at least up to the first 15 weeks of pregnancy, because an 1864 abortion law outlawing it won’t get a chance to be reinstated.

That’s due to the timing of state lawmakers ending their 2024 session on Saturday and going home for the year.

Abortion-rights advocates had been concerned there would be a gap during which the procedure would not have been available in Arizona except to save the life of the mother.

The backstory is complicated.

Legislators voted May 1 to repeal the territorial-era law that outlaws abortion except to save the life of the mother. That followed an April 9 order by the Arizona Supreme Court declaring that the 2022 decision by the U.S. Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade and its constitutional right of abortion made the old — and never repealed — Arizona law again enforceable.

Only thing is, all state laws take effect 91 days after the end of the legislative session.

Saturday’s adjournment makes that Sept. 14, meaning the repeal of the 1864 law will take effect that day. And the old law itself was not going to be enforceable, due to various agreements, until Sept. 26.

Attorney General Kris Mayes had gotten the Arizona justices to delay their “mandate’’ — the formal order reinstating the old law — until Aug. 12 to give her time to decide whether to seek U.S. Supreme Court review.

And there already was a separate agreement made by her predecessor, Mark Brnovich, that the state will not begin to enforce the old law for at least 45 days beyond the effective date of the Supreme Court ruling. That takes Arizona through Sept. 26 — nearly two weeks after the law that is at the center of the case will be repealed.

None of that returns the law in Arizona to where it was before Roe was overturned. Going that far will require voter approval in November of an initiative proposed for the ballot.

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Instead, a 2022 state law is in effect, which allows abortion through 15 weeks of pregnancy.

That has been the law since the Arizona Supreme Court postponed its mandate to allow the 1864 law to be enforced — and it will be the permanent law after Sept. 26 when the old law formally disappears.

“We are grateful that the Legislature decided to conclude the legislative session, thus allowing abortion care to continue in Arizona without any gaps in services,” said Erika Mach, chief external affairs officer for Planned Parenthood Advocates of Arizona, the political arm of the organization.

She acknowledged in her statement Monday that still leaves Arizona with the 15-week restriction. And that law has no exceptions for rape or incest, though there is one for a “medical emergency,’’ a term not defined in the law.

But Mach said it is still a positive development. “Individuals can rest assured knowing they can receive the care they need in a safe environment,’’ she said.

This isn’t the end of the debate in Arizona.

Voters may get a chance to put the law in Arizona back to the way it was before Roe was overturned. Under Roe, women were considered to have a right to terminate a pregnancy prior to fetal viability, generally considered to be between 22 and 24 weeks.

Backers of what’s been dubbed the Arizona Abortion Access Act say they already have far more than the 383,923 valid signatures on petitions to put the issue on the November ballot. The deadline to turn those in to get them validated is July 3.