The Tucson City Council voted Tuesday to authorize the Tucson Police Department to change its general orders to not make arrests for abortion-related offenses.

 Rick Wiley, Arizona Daily Star

Tucson City Council took action Tuesday to prevent arrests for abortion-related offenses as the Supreme Court is set to release a consequential decision that could leave abortion rights up to the states.

The council voted unanimously to authorize Tucson Police Chief Chad Kasmar to revise the police department’s general orders to reflect “no physical arrest will be made by an officer for an alleged violation” of state laws limiting abortion rights if the Supreme Court overturns a landmark abortion ruling.

In response to a leaked decision suggesting the Supreme Court is poised to overturn Roe v. Wade, a 1973 ruling that established federal protections of abortion rights, the council voted on a proactive measure that “is not just words” but “has some teeth in it,” Mayor Regina Romero said. The official Supreme Court decision is expected to come in late June or early July.

“I, as the mayor, and my colleagues on the council feel as though we have a say to be able to protect people’s constitutionally protected rights, at least for the last 50 years. To be able to say to our community, ‘We’re not going to sit by, we’re going to do something to protect your autonomy,’” Romero said.

Gov. Doug Ducey recently signed a law banning abortions in most circumstances after 15 weeks, which the Supreme Court is deciding the constitutionality of in its consideration of a similar 15-week abortion ban in Mississippi.

The Arizona law states physicians can only provide abortions after 15 weeks in medical emergencies, and not in cases of rape or incest. Physicians violating the law could face a felony and one year in prison.

Arizona’s oldest abortion law, passed in 1901, makes abortion at any gestation period illegal unless necessary to save a pregnant person’s life and punishes abortion providers with 2 to 5 years in prison if found guilty. It’s unclear which state abortion laws would take effect if Roe is overturned.

The resolution passed Tuesday says Tucson’s mayor and council “denounce and oppose the implementation” of Arizona’s laws prohibiting and criminalizing abortions, as well as any Supreme Court actions overturning federal abortion rights.

The actionable portion of the motion, however, is its authorization for Kasmar to revise the Tucson Police Department’s general orders regarding abortion-related arrests.

City Attorney Mike Rankin said a detective or officer will present the case to a prosecuting agency that will issue the charge instead of an officer making an arrest at the scene of the alleged offense.

“It’s actually the more common way of issuing charges, especially felony charges,” Rankin said. “So the detective would take the case over to the county attorney’s office for them to review for issuing.”

The general orders will also direct TPD to refer any alleged abortion law violations to the Arizona Department of Health Services, which is the department charged with handling licensing under Arizona’s 15-week abortion ban and is set to decide whether or not to take action against physicians.

Pima County Attorney Laura Conover said it’s too early to comment on the specifics of the matter but expressed gratitude to City Council on Tuesday.

“I want to thank personally, each one of you for doing everything possible and looking for every solution possible to keep all of our people healthy and safe,” she said. “I would like to add with your leadership, and with your welcomeness to collaboration, I am pleased to add that my Pima County partners are looking to do the same in good spirit with each of you.”

It’s unclear what kind of actions Pima County may take regarding abortion-related arrests.

Sheriff Chris Nanos said he’s heard about the city’s actions but has other more pressing concerns about public safety “with our violent crime situation, our gun violence situation or active shooters at schools.”

“Would I support any measure to not enforce these laws? I don’t know what the law is going to say, and even then it’s kind of like the mask mandate when those came out. We’re not the mask police, I don’t have the time to deal with those things,” Nanos said. “And I clearly am not going to be the abortion police.”

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Contact reporter Nicole Ludden at nludden@tucson.com