AZ: Abortion Ban Heightens Tensions in Maricopa County's Prosecutor Election
If these statewide solutions fail, though, they’re at least eying Arizona’s local prosecutors as the backstop to an outcome they dread: the prospect of people facing criminal charges—and prison terms—over abortions.
“The least our county attorneys can do is commit that they would not prosecute those cases,” said State Representative Analise Ortiz, a Democrat whose district covers parts of Maricopa County. “They absolutely should do that to bring relief to the millions of people who are scared by this decision.”
Whether such a backstop materializes in Maricopa County—a giant jurisdiction home to more than four million residents in Phoenix and its surrounding areas—is going to come down to November’s prosecutor race.
Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell, a Republican who is up for reelection this year, reacted to the ruling with a statement vowing that women would not be “prosecuted for receiving an abortion,” and especially calls out that she would not prosecute abortions that stem from rape, incest, or molestation. The statement did not, however, address whether she would prosecute doctors who provide abortions. Just days prior, Mitchell had said she’d enforce Arizona’s abortion law “whatever that law is.” She has also denounced as unlawful a gubernatorial order barring county attorneys like herself from prosecuting abortion.
Mitchell’s only Democratic challenger, Tamika Wooten, promises she won’t pursue such prosecutions if she becomes county attorney.
“I will not prosecute a woman for her personal health care decisions, nor will I prosecute the medical provider who performs that,” Wooten, a former local prosecutor and defense attorney, told Bolts. “That is a very serious and personal decision that a person must have with themselves and with their health care provider, and it’s not my business.”
https://boltsmag.org/arizona-abortion-ban-county-prosecutor-elections/
