High court rules Arizona can enforce genetic issue abortion ban

(KYMA, KECY/ AP News) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday allowed enforcement of a 2021 Arizona law that lets prosecutors bring felony charges against doctors who knowingly terminate pregnancies solely because the fetuses have a genetic abnormality such as Down syndrome.

The decision comes in the wake of the high court’s June 24 decision that said women have no constitutional right to obtain an abortion. It has no immediate effect because Arizona providers stopped all abortions following last Friday’s Supreme Court ruling.

Providers, including Planned Parenthood Arizona, stopped performing abortions immediately because they were worried about a pre-statehood law making it a crime to perform an abortion or assist in any way, unless the life of the mother is threatened. It was unclear if that law could be enforced, but Republican Attorney General Mark Brnovich said Wednesday that it can be.

That decision puts him at odds with GOP Gov. Doug Ducey, who has repeatedly said that a ban on abortions after 15 weeks’ pregnancy that he signed in March takes precedence.