Willie R. Tubbs, FISM News
[elfsight_social_share_buttons id=”1″]
Saturday, the Biden administration lashed out at the Arizona judge who reinstated a 1901 law that effectively bans all abortions in the state.
In a decision guaranteed to be appealed to ever higher courts, Pima County Superior Court Judge Kellie Johnson granted Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich’s request that she lift an injunction that had barred the state from enforcing its abortion law since the 1970s.
Arizona’s law prohibits abortions in all cases except when the procedure is necessary for preserving the life of the mother. The injunction had been in place since 1973, when the now defunct Roe vs. Wade decision was handed down.
“The court finds that because the legal basis for the judgment entered in 1973 has now been overruled, it must vacate the judgment in its entirety,” Johnson wrote in her ruling.
To call Johnson’s decision unpopular with the White House would be an understatement. The Biden administration characterized the decision as a horrific development.
“If this decision stands, health care providers would face imprisonment of up to five years for fulfilling their duty of care,” White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement, “survivors of rape and incest would be forced to bear the children of their assaulters; and women with medical conditions would face dire health risks.”
Brnovich said the case was a matter of a state being allowed to enforce the laws its legislature saw fit to create, and which the state never repealed even during the nearly 50 years during which Roe stood.
Read ruling here: https://t.co/T1TaqIHVvo
— Mark Brnovich (@GeneralBrnovich) September 23, 2022
“We applaud the court for upholding the will of the legislature and providing clarity and uniformity on this important issue,” Brnovich tweeted. “I have and will continue to protect the most vulnerable Arizonans.”
Brnovich, never the most popular man with Democrats or pro-abortion groups, certainly made no new friends in the wake of his to-date successful bid to return Arizona to pre-Roe status.
Planned Parenthood said the ruling “has the practical and deplorable result of sending Arizonans back nearly 150 years.”
Katie Hobbs, who faces Republican Kari Lake in the race to replace Doug Ducey as Arizona’s governor, released a lengthy rebuke of the ruling on Twitter.
“Like many Arizonans, I’m mourning today’s decision out of Pima County upholding the 1901 abortion ban,” Hobbs tweeted. “This outcome is the product of a decades-long attack on reproductive freedom, and we now must turn our anger into motivation to win in November & restore our fundamental rights.”
Like many Arizonans, I'm mourning today's decision out of Pima County upholding the 1901 abortion ban. This outcome is the product of a decades-long attack on reproductive freedom, and we now must turn our anger into motivation to win in November & restore our fundamental rights. pic.twitter.com/9cHY2zhNFI
— Katie Hobbs (@katiehobbs) September 23, 2022
Lake, who is Pro Life and has pledged to enforce all laws that are on the books in Arizona, had not commented on the ruling as of this writing.
That Johnson’s ruling will be appealed is lost on no one, including the judge.
“While there may be legal questions the parties seek to resolve regarding Arizona statutes on abortion, those questions are not for this Court to decide here,” Johnson wrote.
Even though appeals are certain, Jean-Pierre indicated the Biden administration viewed Johnson’s ruling as the gateway to disaster.
“While we await next steps on any implementation of the law, the potential consequences of this ruling are catastrophic, dangerous, and unacceptable,” Jean-Pierre said.