PHOENIX — Arizona’s attorney general said she will do all she can to mitigate the impacts of the Civil War-era abortion ban that the state’s Supreme Court ruled was enforceable this week.
Attorney General Kris Mayes, a Democrat, told NBC News in an in-person interview on Thursday that her office is pursuing refusing to prosecute abortion providers and patients to helping license Arizona doctors in other states after the court decided in favor of the 1864 near-total abortion ban Tuesday.
“I totally understand the fear that doctors, pharmacists and nurses are having right now in the face of the knowledge that we are barreling toward the potential implementation of this 1864 ban,” Mayes said. “That’s why I’m working with other states on avenues for potentially having them go to those states to practice medicine in the near term. One of my visions is that potentially we could have a safe haven in California for our doctors, nurses and abortion providers.”
The 1864 Arizona law outlawed abortion from the moment of conception, with an exception to save the woman’s life. It made abortion a felony punishable by two to five years in prison for anyone who performed an abortion or helped a person obtain one. Tuesday’s decision effectively undoes a lower court’s ruling that a recent 15-week ban superseded the law.
The state Supreme Court said Tuesday it would put its decision on hold for 14 days so a lower court can consider “additional constitutional challenges.” Reproductive rights advocates can appeal the ruling in the two-week window. Meanwhile, a separate, ongoing suit would allow abortion providers to continue providing services through the 15th week of pregnancy until the end of May.
Shortly after the ruling, Mayes declared in a statement, “As long as I am Attorney General, no woman or doctor will be prosecuted under this draconian law in this state.”
She said Thursday: “I was elected for this moment. This is about freedom and our…
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