Court strikes down Arizona abortion restrictions

An Arizona judge on Friday struck down three state laws that limited abortion access, including a ban on telemedicine for abortion, ruling that the laws violate the state’s constitution.

Maricopa Superior Court Judge Gregory Como ruled that the restrictions predated a constitutional amendment approved by voters in 2024 allowing abortion access. Como noted that the restrictions violated Arizonans’ “fundamental right to abortion under Arizona law” and did not improve patient health, Reuters reported.

“Each of these laws infringe on a woman’s ‘autonomous decision making’ by mandating medical procedures and disclosure of information regardless of the patient’s needs and wishes,” Como wrote in his ruling.

The laws also banned having patients give a reason for seeking an abortion, requiring patients undergo an ultrasound 24 hours before having an abortion, having patients take two trips to a clinic for in-person counseling and another for the abortion, and having abortion pills be mailed.

Arizona state House Speaker Steve Montenegro (R) and Senate President Warren Petersen (R) voiced support for the restrictions, saying that abortion-rights advocates were attempting to get rid of health and safety regulations by invoking the state constitution. Petersen’s office told The Associated Press that Como’s ruling would be appealed.

Two Arizona OB-GYN doctors and the Arizona Medical Association filed the lawsuit, arguing that the restrictions “make it harder to access abortion care and thus violate the state’s new constitutional amendment protecting the right to abortion,” the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), another one of the plaintiffs along with its Arizona-based affiliate, said in a statement.

“These medically unnecessary restrictions have long made it harder, if not impossible, for Arizonans to get abortion care in the state,” the ACLU said. “Despite voter-approved protections for abortion, state lawmakers are currently attempting to undermine this constitutional right by pushing legislation to restrict access to care.”

Kimya Forouzan, principal state policy adviser for the Guttmacher Institute, a sexual and reproductive health policy organization, said the ruling was a “major win for Arizona abortion seekers.”

“This ruling is an example of how constitutional protections can expand access and eliminate significant barriers to abortion care — while others remain limited,” Forouzan said in a statement obtained by The Hill.

Forouzan added that the ruling will help patients “access care with fewer unnecessary delays, fewer medically irrelevant requirements and more options — including telehealth — so they can get the care they need, when they need it.”

Several states have undergone changes to their respective abortion laws after the Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade in 2022. Some states have enshrined abortion access based on measures approved by voters, while voters in other states have rejected measures allowing access.