On Monday, Planned Parenthood Arizona (PPAZ) filed a motion to stay a court ruling reinstating Arizona’s total abortion ban.
Last Thursday, Pima County Superior Court Judge Kellie Johnson lifted an injunction on the 1901 total abortion ban in Planned Parenthood Center of Tucson, et al. v. Gary Nelson, et al. The court case is a continuation of the 1970s case that enjoined the total abortion ban as unconstitutional based on the Supreme Court (SCOTUS) ruling in Roe v. Wade.
Johnson ruled that SCOTUS overturning Roe v. Wade earlier this year nullified the Pima County Superior Court’s injunction against Arizona’s total abortion ban. Johnson added that she wouldn’t be addressing the legality of Arizona’s abortion statutes.
“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,” stated Johnson. “The Court finds an attempt to reconcile fifty years of legislative activity procedurally improper in the context of the motion and record before it. While there may be legal questions the parties seek to resolve regarding Arizona statutes on abortions, those questions are not for this Court to decide here.”
The 1901 ban, which predated Arizona’s statehood, resembles the most recent abortion law enacted by Governor Doug Ducey in March. While the former institutes a total abortion ban, the latter limits abortions to 15 weeks. However, the latter law stipulates that it doesn’t supersede the 1901 ban.
In a press release, PPAZ President and CEO Brittany Fonteno had a different view of the two laws’ relationship. Fonteno contended that Johnson’s ruling enabled conflicting laws to exist in the state, therefore forcing their facilities to continue suspension of abortions.
“This confusion has forced Planned Parenthood Arizona to pause abortion services and cancel appointments scheduled this week — meaning that members of the community once again have been and will continue to be denied medical care that they deserve and need while this decision is in effect,” said Fonteno. “This is unacceptable.”
BREAKING: Planned Parenthood Arizona Seeks Immediate Stay of Pima County Superior Court Ruling pic.twitter.com/MAE46nwS2P
— Planned Parenthood Advocates of Arizona (@ppazaction) September 26, 2022
The few abortion clinics that continued to provide certain services while awaiting the court ruling, such as Camelback Family Clinic, have suspended their services due to this latest ruling.
Arizona’s abortion fund providers — Abortion Fund of Arizona (AFAZ) and the Tucson Abortion Support Collective (TASC), as well as a national network that serves Native American women only in Arizona, Indigenous Women Rising (IWR) — continue to collect funds to provide abortions and all associated costs, such as transportation and time off work.
The fundraising page for the three abortion fund providers, launched through the Democratic fundraising platform ActBlue, has raised nearly $47,800 with a goal of $100,000 as of press time.
“Funding abortion care is a radical act of compassion and you, too, can be a part of this work!” reads the fundraiser page.
A cruel, pre-statehood, 1864 abortion ban has gone into effect in AZ that bans nearly all abortions.
It's time to stand up//fight back & show some love to the AZ abortion funds, incl @abortionfundAZ, @IWRising & Tucson Abortion Support Collective.
Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich, who argued for the court to lift the 1973 injunction on the state’s total abortion ban, commended Johnson for issuing proper legal recourse.
“We applaud the court for upholding the will of the legislature and providing clarity and uniformity on this important issue. I have and will continue to protect the most vulnerable Arizonans,” stated Brnovich.
A Pima County judge lifted an injunction that was placed on AZ’s abortion statute. We applaud the court for upholding the will of the legislature and providing clarity and uniformity on this important issue. I have and will continue to protect the most vulnerable Arizonans.
In addition to Arizona, 14 other states have total abortion bans: Idaho, Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky, and West Virginia. 9 more states are fighting to restore or have total abortion bans on the books in addition to current abortion restrictions: Utah, Wyoming, North Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan, Indiana, and North Carolina.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
It was announced last week that two defense contractors with a large presence in Arizona will partner on one of the U.S. Air Force’s most cutting edge weapons—a hypersonic air-breathing missile capable of sustained speeds of Mach 5 or greater.
Tucson-based Raytheon Missiles & Defense has been selected along with Northrup Grumman Corp. to deliver a first-of-its-kind Hypersonic Attack Cruise Missile (HACM) which utilizes a scramjet engine that forcibly compresses incoming air with a hydrocarbon fuel for combustion to travel at least five times the speed of sound.
This allows a HACM to reach its targets more quickly than similar traditional missiles, allowing it to potentially evade defensive systems, according to the companies which have been working together since 2019 to integrate Northrop Grumman’s scramjet engines onto Raytheon’s air-breathing hypersonic weapons.
In July, they conducted the second successful flight test of a Hypersonic Air-breathing Weapon Concept (HAWC) for the U.S. Air Force and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.
During the flight test, the concept weapon was released from an aircraft and accelerated to hypersonic speeds using a scramjet engine. The vehicle then flew a trajectory which engineers designed to intentionally stress the weapon to explore its limits and further validate digital performance models from the first flight test in September 2021.
“The second flight test is a big step toward scramjet technology being mission ready,” Dan Olson, vice president and general manager of Weapon Systems for Northrop Grumman said at the time. “Nearly twenty years of scramjet propulsion research and development have come to fruition to significantly advance our nation’s weapon capabilities.”
The contract announced earlier this month now calls for Raytheon Missiles & Defense and Northrop Grumman to finetune development of the concept technologies and deliver operationally ready HACMs to the U.S. Air Force.
“Advancing our nation’s hypersonic capabilities is a critical national imperative, and this was an important step forward,” said Wes Kremer, president of Raytheon Missiles & Defense, in August. “Having back-to-back successful flight tests gives us even greater confidence in the technical maturity of our HAWC operational prototype.”
Hypersonic weapons demand novel design solutions because their speed and maneuverability create challenging operating environments. To develop and validate the system quickly, Raytheon has used digital engineering, specifically modeling and simulation, along with ground testing.
“It’s hard to recreate in the real world the most advanced threat scenarios, and that’s especially true in hypersonics,” Kremer said after the July flight test. “But we have the power to model a hypersonic flight regime. Advances in artificial intelligence, machine learning and big data allow us to develop capabilities at scale in a way that wasn’t possible before.”
Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake said she’s glad to hear that ousted congresswoman Liz Cheney launched a $15 million political action committee (PAC) to defeat her and other Trump-backed candidates. Lake called Cheney’s plan “a gift.”
Lake made those remarks during an interview with Fox News pundit Maria Bartiromo on “Sunday Morning Futures.” Cheney first promised to defeat Lake about a month ago through her newly-launched “The Great Task” PAC, shortly after she lost her own re-election.
“That might be the biggest, best gift I’ve ever received,” said Lake. “The new Republican Party is the party of ‘we the people,’ it is no longer the party of warmongers. Liz Cheney probably should change her voter registration — turns out she really is a Democrat after all.”
As AZ Free News reported last month, one of the top donors to Cheney’s PAC was James (Jim) Kennedy, chairman of Arizona’s top communications services provider, Cox Enterprises, who gave $10,800.
Other principal donors included Jeffrey Katzenberg: former Walt Disney Studios chairman, co-founder and CEO of DreamWorks Animation, and one of the Democratic Party’s top fundraisers dubbed “Hollywood’s political kingmaker.”
Since last month, Cheney has embarked on a press tour to discuss her plan to defeat Trump-endorsed candidates like Lake.
Last weekend, Cheney told The Texas Tribune that she would do everything necessary to ensure Lake’s defeat, such as campaigning for Democrats like Lake’s opponent Katie Hobbs.
.@Liz_Cheney: “I’m going to do everything I can to make sure Kari Lake is not elected.”
Cheney also told the outlet that she would no longer be a Republican if former President Donald Trump became the 2024 presidential nominee.
In addition to her engagements with the press, Cheney recently worked with Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren (D-CA-19) on legislation to limit objections to electors.
Other Trump-endorsed candidates in Arizona are Blake Masters (U.S. Senate), Mark Finchem (Secretary of State), Abraham Hamadeh (Attorney General), David Farnsworth (State House), Anthony Kern (State Senate), Wendy Rogers (State Senate), Robert Scantlebury (State Senate), and Janae Shamp (State Senate).
While the main focus along the southwest border is on who and what is coming into the United States, the director of one U.S. Port of Entry in Arizona is making the public aware of the strides his officers are having at keeping firearms from getting into the hands of cartel members in Mexico.
Michael Humphries has been the U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s Nogales Port Director since 2018. His responsibilities include two major border crossings—the Dennis DeConcini POE and the Mariposa POE—as well as the Morley pedestrian gate, the Nogales International Airport, and the Rio Rico railyard.
On Sunday, Humphries tweeted about a southbound vehicle that was preparing to leave the U.S. on Sept. 22 through the Nogales POE.
“As officers spoke to the driver, a K9 alerted to the trunk area of the vehicle and the driver fled,” Humphries wrote. “Officers were able to stop the car before it escaped into Mexico and found 3 AK style semi-auto rifles.”
Just days earlier, Humphries tweeted about a vehicle attempting to leave the U.S. with several firearms hidden in the cargo area.
9/18: CBP officers working outbound ops at the Nogales POE stopped a vehicle attempting to leave the US with 4 AK47 assault rifles and an AK47 pistol hidden in the cargo area of a vehicle. These weapons were most likely intended for Transnational Criminal Organizations in Mexico pic.twitter.com/81owvgVTxJ
— Port Director Michael W. Humphries (@CBPPortDirNOG) September 20, 2022
Federal officials estimate more than 200,000 firearms were illegally trafficked last year from the U.S. into Mexico, particularly through Arizona and Texas crossings.
A tracing program operated by the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) and the Mexican government shows more than 70 percent of guns used in criminal activity in Mexico came from the U.S.
One of Humphries’ tweets from June featured the seizure of a machine gun, 20,000 rounds of ammunition, and other firearms, all of which were headed into Mexico.
Nogales seized a machine gun, an AR-15 assault rifle, a handgun and 20,000 rounds of ammunition before exiting the US. Thanks officers for keeping these powerful weapons from reaching dangerous criminal organizations. pic.twitter.com/GgIzwAQ6DL
— Port Director Michael W. Humphries (@CBPPortDirNOG) June 7, 2022
A few days before, CBP officers encountered two men attempting to walk into Mexico with assault weapons taped to their bodies.
CBP Officers seized four assault rifles strapped to the body of two males attempting to walk into Mexico. Excellent job #Nogales for your vigilance and protecting both sides of the border. pic.twitter.com/glXSorKjGh
— Port Director Michael W. Humphries (@CBPPortDirNOG) June 9, 2022
And in May, Humphries tweeted about the seizure of 10 rifles concealed in one vehicle headed to Mexico.
SEIZURE OF ASSAULT RIFLES Great work CBP Nogales! @CBP Officers conducting outbound operations seized 10 rifles of which 9 were assault rifles concealed within compartments in a vehicle. Thank you for preventing these powerful weapons from reaching violent criminal organizations! pic.twitter.com/F8hbcWVRNG
— Port Director Michael W. Humphries (@CBPPortDirNOG) May 18, 2022
Save Our Schools Arizona (SOSAZ), the teachers union-backed group, claimed to have turned in more signatures than they did for a ballot initiative to end Arizona’s universal school choice.
SOSAZ claimed to have just over 141,700 signatures, above the minimum requirement of over 118,800.
However, an open records request by one pro-school choice mother, Christine Accurso, revealed that a sample of the petitions yielded about 10 signatures per page, not nearly 14 as SOSAZ claimed.
There’s been a pattern of lies coming straight from @azbethlewis over the past 3 months. Her claim of nearly 142,000 signatures was just the latest. After a weekend of hard work at the Secretary of State’s office, the petition count is final and it’s only 8175 total. 1/
Accurso leads AZ Decline to Sign, a countermovement to SOSAZ’s ballot initiative. She told AZ Free News in a statement that she wasn’t surprised by SOSAZ’s overestimation.
“I am not surprised at all that Save Our Schools lied again,” said Accurso. “Saying you are turning in 10,200 petitions when in reality it was only 8,175 is not a rounding error, it’s another way they are deceiving the public. To what end, I don’t know, but the public isn’t buying what they are selling, so I am not surprised.”
The 8,175 petitions that were submitted by Save Our Schools only appear to have 88,866 signatures on them. That is WELL below the minimum required.
It's not official yet until the Secretary of State announces it, but Arizona parents can claim the VICTORY! ESA's for all SOON! https://t.co/TrsiPOIQVs
Accurso credited SOSAZ’s shortcoming to AZ Decline to Sign and its supporters. She noted that even the overestimation by SOSAZ was a number able to be overcome by school choice supporters.
“Thousands of Arizonans pushed back against their tactics this summer,” recalled Accurso. “Without our efforts, they should have easily been able to get 250k – 300k signatures, so even when they reported 142k we were thrilled because challenging that number is very doable. With the new evidence of 8,175 petitions, we are confident more than ever on how this battle ends.”
On Friday, Secretary of State (SOS) Katie Hobbs, Democratic gubernatorial candidate, accepted SOSAZ’s claims without scrutiny. Within hours of SOSAZ turning in its signatures, Hobbs announced that implementation of universal school choice would be suspended while her office reviewed their petition signatures.
Today a Citizen Referendum has filed with our office to refer part of HB2853 to the ballot! The committee is reporting 141,714 signatures which is above the min required: 118,823 signatures.
Neither SOSAZ or Hobbs’ office have addressed the open records discovery. We reached out to both SOSAZ Director Beth Lewis and the secretary of state’s office for comment, but neither responded by press time.
Through a public records request I was given access to all of the 🆘 petitions. They uploaded 8,175 yesterday. When I inquired if more would be uploaded, they responded. ⬇️
It seems mathematically impossible to reach the required # of 118,832, but we will know very soon. pic.twitter.com/dcX0OowHTF
Kevin Gemeroy, a parent involved with AZ Decline to Sign, told AZ Free News that he and other school choice advocates witnessed SOSAZ signature gatherers providing false information to petition signers for weeks about universal school choice through the state’s Empowerment Scholarship Account (ESA) Program.
“Just last weekend, I heard an SOSAZ representative tell a woman that HB2853 would ‘steal $2 billion from public schools,’ which is over $182,000 per child that applied for the universal ESAs,” stated Gemeroy. “I’m unfortunately not surprised Save Our Schools lied to the media and Secretary of State’s office on Friday, and I hope the proper authorities are alerted and take action to protect our democratic process from these lies and attacks in the future.”
The Arizona Department of Education (ADE) hasn’t addressed the open records discovery, either. However, ADE Superintendent Kathy Hoffman has made it clear that she opposes school choice programs of any kind and fully supports the SOSAZ initiative.
As of last Tuesday, the Arizona Department of Education (ADE) received over 10,900 applications for the universal ESA Program.
As of September 19th, @azedschools has received 10,906 total ESA applications since opening the universal application on Aug 16th. 10,338 applied under universal eligibility, an addition of 1,087 in the last week. https://t.co/6UNzVySrz1
If the U.S. Senate agrees, the post office in Fountain Hills will be designated the Dr. C.T. Wright Post Office Building.
The U.S. House of Representatives unanimously passed H.R. 5650 this month. The bill introduced by Rep. David Schweikert to honor the life of Dr. Wright was co-sponsored by the other eight members of Arizona’s Congressional House delegation.
“The legacy of Dr. C.T. Wright is one that should never be forgotten,” Schweikert said in announcing the House vote. “With the House passage of my bill, we are one step closer to seeing his passion for family, faith, and freedom immortalized in our community.”
When Wright died in 2020, a state biography described his “diverse life experiences” which included being a day laborer in Georgia cotton fields, becoming an elementary school teacher, moving on to college professor and administrator, and being named a university president. He spent much of his education career working at many of America’s historically black colleges.
Wright, who was also a faith leader, later turned his focus to human rights and justice issues. He became a criminal justice expert who developed and supervised several training programs for law enforcement officers as well as an education program for inmates.
Around 1999 Wright moved to Arizona where he went on to serve as a member of the Arizona Electoral College and was appointed to the Arizona Board of Executive Clemency which he later chaired. He also served as a delegate to three national political conventions, was involved with the Fountain Hills Unified School District Governing Board and Fountain Hills Kiwanis Club, and was President of the Arizona African Society.
In 2019, Schweikert presented Wright with the Congressional Lifetime Achievement Award.
“Dr. C.T. Wright’s contributions to Arizona are unparalleled,” Schweikert said after the recent House vote. “I look forward to seeing this important piece of legislation advance in the Senate.”
