Louisiana AG warns doctors against performing abortions
NEW ORLEANS — Arizona’s Republican attorney general on Wednesday said that a total ban on abortions that has been on the books since before statehood can be enforced, putting him at odds with GOP Gov. Doug Ducey, who says a 15-week abortion ban he signed in March takes precedence.
Attorney General Mark Brnovich has been reviewing the law that’s been on the books since at least 1901 since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned its 1973 Roe v. Wade decision last week. Abortion clinics across Arizona immediately stopped performing the procedure after Friday’s court ruling out of fear of prosecution.
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Other states are also grappling with when and how to enforce bans that had been blocked nationwide under Roe. Louisiana’s attorney general on Wednesday issued a warning to doctors against performing abortions, despite a judge’s order blocking the state from enforcing its ban on the procedure.
In a letter to the Louisiana State Medical Society, Attorney General Jeff Landry said that the state judge’s Monday order blocking enforcement “has limited reach” and abortion has been a crime since Friday’s decision giving states the power to outlaw abortions.
“It is incumbent on this office to advise you that any medical provider who would perform or has performed an elective abortion after the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs is jeopardizing his or her liberty and medical license,” Landry wrote, referencing the Friday decision.
The high court decision has set off legal battles in multiple states where lawmakers have sought to ban or restrict abortion.
Kentucky’s two abortion clinics asked a judge Wednesday to issue a temporary restraining order to block a state law that took effect after Friday’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling. Attorneys for a Louisville clinic argued that Kentucky’s constitution allows for abortion. They said one of the clinics has turned away about 200 potential patients since the Friday ruling.
