Ducey-Appointed Judge Rules 1864 Territorial Abortion Law Is Back In Force

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Another Ducey-appointed Judge attempted a Friday night news dump hoping that no one will not notice. Oh, we noticed.

Pima County Judge Kellie Johnson has ruled in favor of Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich’s aka “Nunchucks” motion to set aside a 1973 Court decision suspending Arizona’s complete ban on abortion after the Roe v. Wade decision.

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In the wake of an activist radical Republican U.S. Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade earlier this year – the first time in U.S. history the Court has reversed a fundamental constitutional right once granted by the Court, for half of the population – Brnovich moved the Superior Court in Pima County to lift the 1973 stay, and allow the 1864 Arizona territorial law, reenacted several times by the Arizona legislature, to go back into effect after a nearly 50 year hiatus. (It is not clear from the case records the last time this law was actually enforced in Arizona, and it may be that it was “dead letter law” prior to 1973).

In her Under Advisement Ruling in Planned Parenthood v. Brnovich, Judge Johnson rules that this 158 year old law is now back in force. Republicans have taken Arizona back to the mid-19th Century.

Of course, our lame-duck Attorney General celebrated his taking away reproductive freedom from the female population of Arizona, because that’s the kind of extremist that he is.

So this archaic law, Arizona Revised Statutes Title 13, Criminal Code § 13-3603, is back from the dead:

13-3603. Definition; punishment

A person who provides, supplies or administers to a pregnant woman, or procures such woman to take any medicine, drugs or substance, or uses or employs any instrument or other means whatever, with intent thereby to procure the miscarriage of such woman, unless it is necessary to save her life, shall be punished by imprisonment in the state prison for not less than two years nor more than five years.

The broad language of this law would include morning after pills, not just RU-486 (medication abortion). Physicians and pharmacists are now on notice.

If you are currently a pregnant woman seeking an abortion, you will now need to make quick travel plans to California.

All of the Republican candidates for office in November support enforcement of this archaic law, and want to go even farther. They are seriously considering the Texas abortion vigilante law for Arizona.

You can put a stop this assault on women’s rights by religious extremists. You can vote against every Republican candidate on the ballot, and vote not to retain any Republican-appointed judge on the judicial retention ballot. It is time to clean house and deliver a punishing blow to these Republican extremists.

The voter registration deadline is October 11, 2022. In Arizona you can register online. If you have an Arizona Driver License and/or an Arizona non-operating I.D. card issued by the Motor Vehicle Division (MVD) you may register to vote through Service Arizona EZ Voter Registration.

By Mail – You can either print off a form online (PDF) or request that a registration form be mailed to you from your County Recorder. After completing the voter registration form, mail it to your county recorder’s office.

In-Person – You may visit your County Recorder’s Office and fill out a registration form in person.

Then VOTE!

UPDATE: We need a Women’s March to the Polls in November.





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