Abortion rights group opposes effort to restore Arizona ban

(KYMA, KECY/ AP News) - In a legal filing to the courts, Planned Parenthood Arizona says officials need to “harmonize” the state’s two different laws on abortion.

After the U.S. Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe vs. Wade, Attorney General Mark Brnovich moved last week to reinstate an almost complete ban on the procedure dating back more than a century, saying that the Supreme Court's decision meant that Arizona’s old law banning all abortions except when the woman’s life was at risk should now be enforceable.

But Planned Parenthood Arizona said in its new court filing that providers must now navigate inconsistent statements from elected officials and insisted “this court has a duty to harmonize all of the Arizona Legislature’s enactments as they exist today.”

Arizona also has a law banning abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy that Republican Gov. Doug Ducey signed into law in March. Ducey has insisted it takes precedence over the near-total ban Brnovich wants to enforce.