Lawsuit challenges Arizona abortion limits

A new lawsuit seeks to overturn a trio of abortion restrictions based on the sweeping reproductive rights measure Arizona voters approved last year.

The big picture: Voters in November overwhelmingly passed Proposition 139, which guarantees the right to an abortion through fetal viability, which is generally around 24 weeks.

• The amendment to the Arizona Constitution also prohibits any law that "denies, restricts or interferes" with abortion access before fetal viability, unless it's justified by a compelling state interest and "achieved by the least restrictive means."
• Yes, but: The abortion rights guaranteed by the measure don't go into effect automatically, and laws restricting abortion rights must be challenged in court before they can be struck down under Prop. 139.

Why it matters: Abortion rights advocates have long argued that many state laws are unnecessarily restrictive and needlessly make it more difficult to get an abortion.

Catch up quick: Under Prop. 139, abortion rights advocates quickly targeted the state's 15-week abortion ban, which a judge struck down in March, and pledged future lawsuits against other restrictions that Arizona enacted through the years.

Driving the news: A lawsuit filed in Maricopa County Superior Court on Thursday by two doctors and the Arizona Medical Association argued that various laws and sets of restrictions are in violation of Prop. 139. Those laws:

• Prohibit abortions because of nonfatal genetic abnormalities in the fetus
• Require patients to get an ultrasound at least 24 hours before an abortion, which forces them to make multiple trips to a provider, and require doctors to provide information about abortion alternatives
• Ban telehealth for abortion and prohibit the mailing of abortion pills

What's next: The Arizona Attorney General's Office is reviewing the new lawsuit and hasn't decided yet whether it will defend the laws, spokesperson Richie Taylor told Axios.

• The Center for Arizona Policy (CAP), a conservative nonprofit that champions anti-abortion laws, also has not yet determined whether it would intervene in the lawsuit if Attorney General Kris Mayes declines to defend the laws, president Peter Gentala told Axios.
• The Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative group that recently defended the genetic abnormalities law and a fetal personhood law in court, couldn't immediately be reached for comment.

• Mayes agreed the 15-week ban violated Prop. 139.

What they're saying: "Arizona voters took back the power to make their own reproductive health care decisions. Yet they still must jump through hoops to get abortion care," Nancy Northup, president and CEO of the Center for Reproductive Rights which represents some plaintiffs in the case, said in a press statement.

• "These burdensome restrictions have been in place for far too long, so we're going to court to strike them down once and for all."

The other side: Gentala couldn't comment on the legal specifics yet, but said the lawsuit "exposes an agenda to make abortion as broadly available in Arizona as possible, and to sweep away any type of provision for the protection for women's health that is in the fabric of the law."