2022 was a tumultuous year for access to abortion care in Arizona. The chaos began when the US Supreme Court overturned the 1972 Roe v Wade ruling that had guaranteed the legal right to abortion care up to viability on June 24. Shortly after the Roe ruling, then AZ Attorney General Mark Brnovich filed a motion in Pima County Superior Court to make abortion illegal in AZ.
Nearly immediately, most abortion providers in Arizona stopped providing the procedure in late June and July. An abortion surveillance report published earlier this month shows the immediate impact of the Roe decision, with abortions going from about 1,200 in June to only 216 in July, as clinics and providers waited to find out exactly what was legal.
Arizona Supreme Court to Decide the Fate of Abortion Care in AZ: Oral Arguments December 12, 2023
Prior to Roe being overturned, the AZ Legislature passed and then Governor Ducey signed a law banning abortions after 15 weeks of gestation “absent a medical emergency” with no exceptions for rape or incest. While that law passed before Roe was overturned, it didn’t take effect until September 23, 2022, so between June 24 and September 23, the main law on the books, from Arizona’s territorial era, stated that all abortions are illegal to perform “unless it is necessary to save her life”.
Originally called ARS 13-211, 13-212, and 13-213, those 1901 anti-abortion laws were later renumbered 13-3603, 13-3604, and 13-3605. Statute 13-211 made it illegal for anyone to provide an abortion. Statute 13-212 made it illegal for any pregnant woman to solicit or receive any procedure that caused an abortion. Statute 13-213 made it illegal to advertise contraception or abortion services.
Almost immediately after the 15-week law took effect Pima County Superior Court Judge Kellie Johnson sided with Brnovich and reinstated the 19th-century law. The state appellate court quickly put the law on hold pending the outcome of Planned Parenthood Arizona’s appeal of Johnson’s decision.
Abortion care somewhat resumed by August. For the rest of 2022 abortion services were still limited as reflected in the new surveillance report, An average of 640 abortions were performed per month between August & December 2022 vs. an average of 1,300/month before Roe was overturned.
While abortions were down 18% in 2022 vs. 2021, the number of births was mostly unchanged between 2020, 2021 and 2022 (76,781, 77,857 & 78,355 respectively). This suggests many Arizona residents sought abortion care in neighboring states like CA, NV, CO, or NM
Abortion Report in Arizona – 2022
Report snapshots:
- The vast majority of abortions were performed prior to 15 weeks’ gestation (96%)
- Half of all abortions were medication and half used surgical procedures
- There are several graphs in the report with data for marital and educational status, age distributions, race and ethnicity, pregnancy history, geography, maternal medical conditions cited for obtaining an abortion, and doctor’s field of specialty
View the Full Report
If you’d like to sign the petition to guarantee access to abortion care, visit the Arizona for Abortion Access website. Follow the link under the volunteer section to “Mobilize” and look for opportunities to sign the petition or volunteer to collect signatures (which requires training).