Brnovich Defended Arizona Laws Prohibiting Anyone Other Than A Physician From Performing Abortions, Requiring Patients To Visit Clinics Twice Over A 24-Hour Period For Counseling, And Barring The Use Of Telemedicine In Providing Abortion Services; Said “We’re Talking About Human Beings, Not Appliances.” According to the Associated Press, “Abortion rights groups filed a lawsuit Thursday challenging Arizona laws they say unnecessarily restrict access to the procedures and leave most rural areas without clinics. The legal action by Planned Parenthood Arizona targets laws that prohibit anyone other than a physician from performing abortions; require patients to visit clinics twice over a 24-hour period for counseling; and bar the use of telemedicine in providing abortion services […] The lawsuit was filed against Attorney General Mark Brnovich, Arizona Medical Board Executive Director Patricia McSorley, Arizona Department of Health Services and Arizona State Board of Nursing Executive Director Joey Ridenour. ‘Planned Parenthood might be disappointed its business model is failing, but we're talking about human beings, not appliances,’ Brnovich said in a statement. ‘Planned Parenthood should work to change the law if it doesn't like the policies, not rely on the courts to do its bidding.’” [Associated Press, 4/12/19]
Choices Pregnancy Center Sought The Right To Intervene To Help Brnovich Fend Off Legal Challenges From Planned Parenthood To Arizona’s Abortion Laws. According to the Yuma Sun, “An organization that counsels women not to terminate their pregnancies wants the right to help Attorney General Mark Brnovich fend off legal challenges by Planned Parenthood to Arizona's abortion laws. Attorneys for the Choices Pregnancy Center contend the organization has ‘unique interests to defend and information to supply’ in the legal fight between Planned Parenthood and the state. Specifically, attorney Kevin Theriot told U.S. District Court Judge Jennifer Zipps that the organization is concerned that Planned Parenthood seeks to void a state law that requires a woman to wait 24 hours between her first visit to a doctor and actually getting an abortion.” [Yuma Sun, 11/11/19]
Brnovich Did Not Object To Having Crisis Become A Party To The Lawsuit.
According to the Yuma Sun, “In the new lawsuit, Planned Parenthood is asking Zipps to look not just as the individual hurdles being placed in the path of women but what they say is the cumulative effect. The law, the legal papers say, has resulted closure of Planned Parenthood clinics in Yuma, Goodyear, Prescott Valley and Chandler. And the Flagstaff clinic can provide abortion services only one day a week. And then there are the numbers: Howard said the cumulative effect of those law has reduced the number of abortions performed from about 10,000 a dozen years ago to fewer than 6,500 now. Ryan Anderson, a top aide to Brnovich, put a different spin on the numbers. ‘They are literally suing because their bottom line has been impacted,’ he said. Brnovich, who is not objecting to having Crisis become a party to the lawsuit, has made no secret that he is opposed to abortion.” [Yuma Sun, 11/11/19]