PHOENIX (LifeSiteNews) — The fight for life has taken center stage in Arizona as radical pro-abortion advocacy groups challenge the state’s few remaining pro-life protection laws following the passage of a pro-abortion amendment on Arizona ballots in November.
Pro-abortion groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union, the Center for Reproductive Rights, and Planned Parenthood filed a lawsuit in Maricopa County Superior Court on behalf of the local chapter of Planned Parenthood and two abortionist physicians on Tuesday, in a push to tear down current Arizona law that protects life by banning abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy, arguing that the law stands in the way of a mother’s “fundamental right” to murder her baby before birth.
The lawsuit also seeks to dismantle enforcement mechanisms of the 15-week ban, such as suspending the medical license of a physician who intentionally or knowingly violates the ban by killing a baby in the womb after the initial 15-week period.
The 15-week ban was one of many state laws nationwide that automatically went into effect after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, with the Arizona Legislature having passed the law months beforehand. Democrat Attorney General Kris Mayes will refuse to enforce the 15-week ban while the lawsuit goes through the courts, according to a statement made by spokesperson Richie Taylor on Tuesday.
According the Attorney General’s Office, abortion is now legally available in Arizona until “fetal viability,” a vague term with a loose definition that is often up to interpretation by the physician or doctor performing the abortion.
The Center for Arizona Policy, a conservative nonprofit that supports the 15-week ban, which would at least protect some babies, posted the following statement on X:
Today’s lawsuit filed by Planned Parenthood, ACLU, abortion doctors, and others to overturn Arizona’s 15-week limit reveals the true pro-abortion agenda that denies the reality of an unborn child’s life.
Our commitment remains what it had always been: protect both the woman and her unborn child. No decision has been made on any attempt to intervene in the lawsuit. That will take further analysis and consideration.
Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs, a Democrat, asserts that the law protecting babies after 15 weeks should be removed. “Arizonans made it clear that they support reproductive freedom, and there is no question that a ban … should be removed from our laws,” she said in a statement Tuesday, adding that she is “glad Arizonans are working to finish the job.”
As LifeSiteNews previously reported, Arizona was one of 10 states that voted on an abortion measure this November, with only three states voting in favor of life. The constitutional amendment, Proposition 139, passed in Arizona this election cycle with a jarring 61.6 percent of the vote – only 38.4 percent of Arizona voters chose to vote against the amendment.