Arizona Judge Stands By Pro-Life Ruling

An Arizona judge on Friday rejected a bid by abortion advocates to freeze her earlier order that allowed enforcement of a Civil-War-era law that made it a crime to provide an abortion unless the mother’s life is in danger.
Pima County Superior Court Judge Kellie Johnson on Sept. 30 declined to put on hold her Sept. 22 ruling that lifted a 1973 injunction and, by allowing the pre-statehood law to take effect, imposed a near-total abortion ban.
Johnson said in her ruling (pdf) that pro-abortion groups led by Planned Parenthood and its Arizona affiliate—who had urged the judge to reverse her decision—were unlikely to succeed on appeal. The judge also said that Planned Parenthood was unable to prove that denying the organization’s request would cause irreparable harm….