Arizona governor revokes authority for counties to carry out abortion-related prosecutions

Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs (D) issued an executive order on Thursday to remove the authority to carry out abortion-related prosecutions from counties.

Hobbs’ order would centralize this authority with the state’s attorney general, a shift likely to provide greater protection for abortion rights in the state. 

Hobbs announced her signing of the executive order in a tweet on Friday, saying that it will ensure that differences in the application of state laws by county attorneys will not restrict access to legal abortions. 

“I signed an Executive Order protecting Arizonans’ reproductive freedom. I will not allow extreme and out of touch politicians to get in the way of the fundamental rights of Arizonans,” she said. 

The order concerns any pending or future criminal prosecution of a medical provider, entity or individual for violations of any state law restricting abortion access, “to the extent permissible” under Arizona law. 

Hobbs also directed all state agencies to not assist with or use any state resources for investigations from other states for activities to provide, seek, assist or obtain reproductive health care that are legal in Arizona. 

The order also declares that Hobbs’ administration will decline extradition requests from states seeking to prosecute any individual who is facing charges over their involvement in providing, assisting with or receiving reproductive health care as long as the activities would be legal in Arizona. It notes that this will be the policy to the extent allowed by federal and state law. 

Hobbs is also forming a Governor’s Advisory Council on Protecting Reproductive Freedom to make recommendations to her to expand access to reproductive and sexual health care in the state. The council will be directed to consider expanding access to family planning and reproductive health resources, reviewing the current regulatory and enforcement framework to suggest areas to improve and addressing health care disparities. 

The order comes just ahead of the one-year anniversary of the Supreme Court’s ruling overturning Roe v. Wade, which declared a constitutional right to abortion, on Saturday. Many states have enacted strict abortion restrictions in the year since the ruling through trigger bans and other legislation. 

Arizona had a law in place from the 1800s that banned nearly all abortions, but the Arizona Court of Appeals blocked it from being enforced in October and ruled that doctors could not be prosecuted under it in December. 

Hobbs’ predecessor, former Gov. Doug Ducey (R), signed a 15-week ban into law last March, a few months before the Supreme Court’s ruling was released. 

Hobbs campaigned on protecting access to abortion services last year as it became an even bigger political issue in the wake of the court’s decision overturning Roe v. Wade.

State House Speaker Ben Toma (R) told The Arizona Republic that he and his staff are reviewing the order to determine if it is legally permitted. 

“At a minimum, this order shows disrespect and contempt for the judiciary. Arizona’s abortion laws are still in litigation in light of the Supreme Court’s historic Dobbs ruling,” he said. “The governor cannot unilaterally divert statutory authority to prosecute criminal cases from Arizona’s 15 county attorneys to the attorney general.”