Pima County Attorney Laura Conover promised to break Arizona law if the Supreme Court overrules Roe v. Wade and the state outlaws abortion. Conover vowed that those seeking or assisting in abortions wouldn’t receive any jail time on her watch.
“We will do everything in our power to ensure that no person seeking or assisting in an abortion will spend a night in jail,” said Conover.
A leaked SCOTUS opinion is unprecedented, and so as Pima County Attorney, this is apparently the moment when I need to reassure of what I have always said: We will do everything in our power to ensure that no person seeking or assisting in an abortion will spend a night in jail.
Arizona’s latest abortion restriction, SB1164, banned abortions after 15 weeks. Governor Doug Ducey signed it into law in March.
However, if the Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade’s legalized abortion in deciding Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, Arizona may revert to its original outright ban on abortion dating back to the beginning of its statehood. SB1164’s language reflected support of that outcome.
“This act does not: […] Repeal, by implication or otherwise, section 13-3602, Arizona Revised Statutes, or any other applicable state law regulating or restricting abortion,” reads the law.
From 1901, before Arizona achieved statehood in 1912, to the Roe v. Wade ruling in 1973, Arizona outlawed abortion completely. Later versions of the law retained the majority of the original language but modified punishments — up until the 1973 Supreme Court ruling, anyone who performed abortions received two to five years’ prison time.
If the Supreme Court overturns the precedents established by Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey, then the state may return to its total ban, which some legislators have identified as a “trigger law”: A.R.S. 13:3603.
Conover wouldn’t be the only county attorney to defy an Arizona law banning abortion. Democratic candidate for Maricopa County Attorney Julie Gunnigle pledged to disregard any restrictions or bans on abortion if she wins. Her promise focused on the latest law prohibiting abortions after 15 weeks.
Wednesday night, pro-abortion activists gathered outside the Arizona State Capitol to protest SB1164 and the Supreme Court’s draft majority opinion.
Secretary of State and gubernatorial candidate Katie Hobbs cursed out the country after the leaked Supreme Court draft opinion circulated on Monday night. She capitalized on the incident with a plug to fundraise for her campaign.
“F**k the patriarchy,” said Hobbs. “If you agree, help us defend the right to choose in Arizona.”
State Representative and congressional candidate Walt Blackman (R-Snowflake) criticized Hobbs as not being a serious individual in response.
You are not a serious person.
— Walt Blackman for Congress (@BlackmanForAZ) May 3, 2022
Politico published the leaked opinion on Monday night. Justice Samuel Alito authored the 98-page draft majority opinion, which dated back to February. Justices Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett signed onto the opinion.
Tuesday morning, Chief Justice John Roberts confirmed the authenticity of the draft. He ordered an investigation into the leak. Although much speculation abounded following the Politico report, no official suspects have been named.
Roberts assured the country that the leak wouldn’t influence the final ruling.
“To the extent this betrayal of the confidences of the Court was intended to undermine the integrity of our operations, it will not succeed. The work of the Court will not be affected in any way,” said Roberts.
JUST IN: The Supreme Court confirms the authenticity of the draft opinion revealed last night by Politico. The chief justice has ordered an investigation into the leak. pic.twitter.com/XZweHdyhCG
While Arizona’s Republican elected officials acknowledged the draft opinion’s content, their greater focus was on the individual responsible for the leak. Arizona’s Democratic elected officials, however, focused on their disagreement with the opinion. They didn’t address the alleged impropriety of the leak — some appeared to even justify it.
Congressman Andy Biggs (R-AZ-05) said that while he agreed with the ruling, he disapproved of the leak and speculated that someone with pro-abortion views was responsible. Congressman Paul Gosar (R-AZ-04) concurred.
The leaked SCOTUS draft was likely from a far left law clerk who is trying to derail the final decision by creating mass outrage, hoping to scare a Justice to change his or her mind.
Congressman Ruben Gallego (D-AZ-07) argued that the bigger issue at hand wasn’t the fact that someone compromised the process of the highest court in the land by leaking sensitive documents unintended for public consumption. Rather, he argued that the bigger issue was how SCOTUSblog, the independent media blog offering Supreme Court reporting, engaged in “inside ball bulls**t.”
Making women second class citizens I think is a graver sin than your inside ball bullshit. https://t.co/7AaRtS6k1c
Congresswoman Ann Kirkpatrick (D-AZ-02) argued that the draft opinion didn’t reflect the American people’s will. One of the first arguments in the majority draft opinion asserted that both Roe v. Wade and Casey v. Planned Parenthood weren’t based on legal rationale. Rather, Alito wrote that both rulings contained arbitrary, legislation-like rules.
There’s been a lot of horrific long-term damaging news over the past several years, none have hit me like this.
We must vocalize our dissent. This is not the will of the American people. https://t.co/DNjYlpfQza
— Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick (@RepKirkpatrick) May 3, 2022
Both of Arizona’s Democratic Senators Kyrsten Sinema and Mark Kelly didn’t address the leak, just their disagreement with the draft majority opinion.
Vice President Kamala Harris accused the Supreme Court justices of “want[ing] to punish women” by “tak[ing] away their rights to make decisions about their own bodies.” Harris claimed that the ruling threatened the “right to privacy” — a concept not enumerated within the Constitution but contrived in the 1890s by Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis.
President Joe Biden pledged to push for legalized abortion on demand legislation, should the draft opinion become the final ruling.
The leak inspired pro-abortion and pro-life activists to turn up at the courthouse.
Arizona Secretary of State and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Katie Hobbs offered a more definitive stance on abortion limitations last week. In short — none. Hobbs rejected the notion that the law must determine at what point abortions should be restricted. Rather, Hobbs insisted that such a decision should be left between the mother and doctor.
When pressed by AZFamily Political Editor Dennis Welch on where she drew the line, Hobbs reiterated that the decision wasn’t up to her but to each individual. That could mean up until the point of birth. Hobbs later tweeted that the right to unfettered abortion access was a mark of equality for women in society.
“Women deserve action to abortion care. Abortion is health care,” said Hobbs. “Abortion is a personal decision between a woman and her family and doctor. That’s something that needs to be discussed in the medical exam room, not by politicians.”
Not only is the new abortion ban an extreme assault on Arizonans’ reproductive freedom, it takes us a giant step backwards in our decades long fight for equality. pic.twitter.com/0XAFgYcYTx
Hobbs called the latest law banning abortions after 15 weeks a danger to women. Her arguments reflected her exact sentiments from when Governor Doug Ducey signed the abortion ban into law. Hobbs declared that limiting abortion was depriving women of their constitutional freedom.
“Today marks a giant step backward in the fight for equality for women across Arizona and across the country,” said Hobbs. “With Governor Ducey’s signature, our elected leaders have chosen to turn their backs on the overwhelming majority of Arizonans who support the constitutional right to choose. Make no mistake — stripping away women’s constitutional rights won’t stop women from seeking access to reproductive health care. But the passage of this misogynistic law clarifies the very real and dangerous consequences of electing leaders who are willing to throw away our rights and set us back a generation.”
Abortion up until birth would be consistent with Hobbs’ longstanding views on the subject of abortion. During her time as a state senator, Hobbs said that abortion didn’t equal infanticide and that “abortion” wasn’t a bad word.
According to Hobbs’ cumulative 2021 campaign finance report, she received hundreds from Planned Parenthood of Arizona leaders: $250 from lobbyist Jodi Liggett, $500 from president Bryan Howard, and $75 from their external affairs. Planned Parenthood of Arizona also endorsed Hobbs for her races in the state legislature and for secretary of state.
In a 2012 interview with Planned Parenthood for Arizona, Hobbs claimed that pregnancy was just as dangerous as abortion. She also advocated for the controversial curriculum of comprehensive sex education for K-12 schools.
If elected, Hobbs wouldn’t be the only official to oppose the law. The Democratic candidate for Maricopa County Attorney, Julie Gunnigle, pledged to not enforce Arizona’s ban on abortions after 15 weeks.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
Julie Gunnigle, the sole Democratic candidate in the Maricopa County Attorney’s race, pledged to disregard the upcoming new law banning abortions after 15 weeks gestation. Gunnigle said that enforcing that law would be a “waste of resources” and “not in the interest of justice.” She called the ban “unconstitutional policing,” claiming that the law would lead to investigations into miscarriages and stillbirths. The legislation, presented to Governor Doug Ducey on Monday, bans the prosecution of women who receive an abortion under 15 weeks.
“Your county attorney should always be working in the interests of justice and prioritizing those cases that do justice for our county and our residents. That means not prosecuting people for their health care decisions, including abortion,” said Gunnigle.
Her stances have earned her the support of Arizona’s activist arm of Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion provider and profiteer.
Gunnigle, legal director for the Poor People’s Campaign, checks all the boxes of the Democratic Party’s progressive criminal justice reform wishlist. Gunnigle pledged to ensure marijuana charges expungement and implement an affirmative action approach to sentencing. She has also expressed opposition to election integrity measures, bans on sex change surgeries for minors, bans on biological males in women’s sports, private prisons, and current incarceration rates.
Gunnigle claimed that former county attorney Allister Adel wasn’t the problem, but a symptom of a greater issue of a broken criminal justice system. Her platform and remarks reflect the same principles as the pioneer for criminal justice reform: Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm, the same prosecutor responsible for enabling Darryl Brooks to kill in the Waukesha Christmas Parade attack four months ago.
Like Gunnigle, one of Chisholm’s main focuses was to eliminate racial disparities in sentencing and incarceration. Chisholm, in turn, received validation and assistance from the progressive criminal justice reform organization, the Vera Institute of Justice.
EXCLUSIVE: The inside story of how nearly 15 years of soft-on-crime liberalism from Milwaukee DA John Chisholm culminated in the Waukesha parade killer being released on bail just days before his deadly rampage. https://t.co/y0dlmfiDvh
The Arizona Senate approved a bill to limit abortions after 15 weeks, SB1164, with punishment reserved for physicians providing the abortions and not the mother of the unborn child. Abortions past 15 weeks could be performed in the event that a mother’s life is determined to be at stake, but the physician must file a report with the Department of Health Services (DHS).
The bill sponsor, State Senator Nancy Barto (R-Phoenix), has been invested in phasing out abortion entirely. Barto was the sole state legislator outside the Supreme Court hearing for Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which considers the legality of Roe v. Wade precedent, the ruling that legalized abortion nationwide.
Barto called her bill a “common-sense limit,” but lamented that the bill didn’t go far enough.
Barto did concede that the bill was still an opportunity to protect more women from late-term abortions, saying it was “honoring life and protecting women.” Barto criticized Planned Parenthood for not using its millions to help women with unplanned pregnancies,
“15 weeks? That puts Arizona in league with China and North Korea,” said Barto.
Senate Democrats defended the decision to end an unborn child’s life as the personal decisions of parents. State Senator Christine Marsh (D-Phoenix) said that the state of Arizona couldn’t put barriers on abortion until there’s a way to stop rape and incest for good.
State Senator Sally Ann Gonzales (D-Tucson) said that unborn children could be “a burden” to families.
“We ought not be supporting bills like this that really place not only a burden onto families but, as I always like to say, it’s really placing our own individual values and beliefs onto all the women of this state,” said Gonzalez.
State Senator Rosanna Gabaldon (D-Sahuarita) said she wanted to be proud to be part of a state that allows families to make the decisions of what their families look like. Gabaldon expressed a wish that the question of abortion would no longer be subject to moral debate but rather an accepted good.
“I want to live in a world where we respect other people’s decisions,” said Gabaldon. “I want one day for Arizona to look back and say, ‘Why did we have a problem with this?’”
State Senator Raquel Teran (D-Phoenix) compared Arizona women’s plight with unplanned pregnancies to the women of El Salvador under their strict abortion ban in place since 1998. Teran insinuated that the third-world justice system practices of El Salvador would befall Arizonans. She called the bill an “injustice.”
State Senator Stephanie Stahl-Hamilton (D-Tucson) claimed to be a Christian and that the Bible supported abortion.
We need a world where people respect each other’s personal decisions around parenthood and pregnancy—whether those decisions involve giving birth, putting a child up for adoption, having an abortion, or choosing not to have children at all. #SB1164#AbortionIsHealthcare
