Arizona AG: Abortions after 15 weeks to resume after lawsuit challenges ban

Catch up quick: Prop. 139 ensures the right to abortions through fetal viability, generally considered to be around 24 weeks of pregnancy.

• The abortion rights now enshrined in the Arizona Constitution didn't automatically go into effect, and contradictory laws aren't immediately repealed until a judge rules they violate Prop. 139. 
• Most abortion providers were unwilling to perform the procedures after 15 weeks for fear of violating the law.

The latest: The American Civil Liberties Union, Planned Parenthood and the Center for Reproductive Rights filed a lawsuit Tuesday challenging the 15-week ban under Prop. 139. 

• The attorney general's office quickly followed by filing a stipulation that the 15-week law violates the Arizona Constitution and that the state won't enforce it. 

What they're saying: "For two years, physicians' hands have been tied when a patient needs to end a pregnancy after 15 weeks, including when they face serious pregnancy complications. But today we can once again provide care to people who want to end their pregnancy,"  said Eric Reuss, an obstetrician and gynecologist with Scottsdale Obstetrics & Gynecology who is one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit.

What's next: Arizona has myriad other abortion restrictions likely to be challenged under Prop. 139, like a 24-hour waiting period.

• Other laws likely to face legal challenges include a prohibition on abortions due to genetic abnormalities in the fetus, restrictions on mailing abortion drugs and telehealth for abortions, and an "informed consent" law requiring doctors to tell women about alternatives to abortion.

Flashback: The Arizona Supreme Court ruled earlier this year that a pre-statehood ban on nearly all abortions was enforceable after the overturning of Roe v. Wade. 

• The state Legislature repealed the pre-Roe ban, allowing the 15-week ban that then-Gov. Doug Ducey signed in 2022 to be enforced. 
• Voters approved Prop. 139 with nearly 62% of the vote.