Planned Parenthood Arizona is resuming abortion care statewide, but it could be temporary

Planned Parenthood Arizona leaders said Thursday they're resuming abortions statewide, though the long-term legality of abortions remains uncertain in the state.

Brittany Fonteno, Planned Parenthood Arizona president and CEO, said that pregnant people have been put in the crosshairs of politics in Arizona for months but that, for now, the doors of Planned Parenthood's abortion clinics are open and care will be offered with compassion and no judgment.

The state's largest abortion provider is providing both medication and surgical abortions at its clinics in Tucson, Tempe, Glendale and Flagstaff. Since late August, only its clinic in Tucson had been offering abortion care.

Demand for care is high in Arizona because of multiple factors, including a small number of clinics and patients from states such as Texas who are seeking care in Arizona. Patients may encounter delays in trying to get appointments.

The clinics are operating under a new Arizona law that bans abortions after 15 weeks and makes no exceptions for rape or incest, which will force some patients to get abortion care out of state because of the time it can take to get an appointment for care in Arizona.

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Alexis McGill Johnson, CEO of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America and the Planned Parenthood Action Fund, was in Tempe with Arizona leaders when they announced abortion care would resume statewide.

Johnson said she came to Arizona to provide support to leaders here who have faced confusion and uncertainty about the legality of abortions here ever since the U.S. Supreme Court's June 24 decision to reverse the nearly 50-year-old landmark Roe v. Wade decision, which protected an individual's right to choose to have an abortion.

"Every moment where we are able to provide access to abortion care for patients matters," Johnson said.

States were left to make their own abortion laws in the wake of the Dobbs decision, which translated into a lot of confusion in Arizona about whether a pre-statehood law that bans nearly all abortions or a 15-week ban passed earlier this year were in effect here.

But for now, abortion is legal in Arizona and appointments are already filling up at Planned Parenthood's clinics, which means patients may have to go to the clinic where there's availability.

As of Thursday morning, the next open abortion appointment statewide was Nov. 11 in Tucson, Planned Parenthood Arizona's medical director Dr. Jill Gibson said.

There are multiple reasons for the high demand for appointments, including patients coming from Texas and other Southern states with abortion bans. Abortion clinics in New Mexico are almost entirely booked with patients from the South, so many are coming to Arizona, Planned Parenthood officials said.

Some abortion care providers and staff have left for other states where the climate for reproductive rights is less hostile than Arizona, officials said. Some also want to have an assurance of a job; in Arizona, the legality of abortion is temporary pending court action, Fonteno said.

Amid confusion and a chilling effect from the U.S. Supreme Court's reversal earlier this year of Roe v. Wade, Planned Parenthood Arizona had paused abortion care for most of the summer.

When it did resume care on Aug. 29 it was in Tucson only, and that care had to briefly stop when Pima County Superior Court Judge Kellie Johnson decided to side with Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich and reinstate a near-total abortion ban that dates to 1864 and makes no exceptions for rape or incest.

The Arizona Court of Appeals paused the 19th-century ban pending the outcome of an appeal to Johnson's decision.

Brnovich agreed this week that the state would not enforce, or retroactively enforce, the 1864 law "in any manner" until 45 days after the Arizona Supreme Court issues a final order on Planned Parenthood's appeal.

Arizona has nine licensed abortion clinics and about 1.6 million women of reproductive age in the state. The state has numerous restrictions that make it difficult for people seeking abortion care to get it, including a mandatory counseling session, mandatory ultrasound and 24-hour waiting period before an abortion is allowed.

Medicaid, which is a government health insurance program for people with low income, covers abortion care in some other states, including California and New Mexico, but not in Arizona. Arizona's Medicaid program — the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System — does not pay for abortion care except in very limited circumstances.

Arizona patients must pay about $500 to $600 and sometimes more out of pocket in order to get an abortion. Private health insurance often does not cover abortion care.

As of Thursday, all nine licensed abortion clinics in the state had resumed abortion care. Six of the state's nine abortion clinics are in the Phoenix area, two are in Tucson and one is in Flagstaff.

Reach the reporter at Stephanie.Innes@gannett.com or at 602-444-8369. Follow her on Twitter @stephanieinnes.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Planned Parenthood Arizona is resuming statewide abortion care