PHOENIX—An Arizona attorney on Friday urged a judge to allow the state to enforce a near-total ban on abortions under a law that has been blocked for nearly 50 years through a now-overruled U.S. Supreme Court decision.
Assistant Attorney General Beau Roysden said the judge’s role is simple: now that the high court has overturned Roe v. Wade, the 1973 ruling that legalized abortion, Pima County Superior Court Judge Kellie Johnson should lift an injunction preventing enforcement of that law.
Planned Parenthood and its Arizona affiliate argued that the judge should only allow the law to be enforced against people who are not doctors so that other abortion restrictions that the Legislature has enacted since Roe remain relevant….