PHOENIX (LifeSiteNews) – Arizona Democrat Attorney General Kris Mayes declared Monday that she will not enforce pro-life laws in the Grand Canyon state, empowered to ignore abortion measures she disagrees with by left-wing Gov. Katie Hobbs.
During an interview with Capitol Media Services, Mayes said that she is taking all prosecutorial power over abortion-related cases away from Arizona’s 15 county attorneys and reserving it for herself, under the authority given her by an executive order Hobbs signed last week, which in turn cites a state law granting the state attorney general “supervisory powers” over county attorneys.
That statute does not explicitly allow for prosecutors to be barred from acting on entire categories of offenses, but Hobbs and Mayes have interpreted it as doing just that.
“This is essentially the governor and I centralizing the prosecution of state law where it belongs, in this matter, under the Attorney General’s Office,” Hayes said. “What I would say to that is, this is not something that the governor and I took lightly.”
“And it is also something that I think should be rarely utilized,” she added. “And I think this was one of those instances where it was very appropriate and necessary to invoke this statute and for these potential prosecutions to be centralized under one roof.”
Calling abortion “not a place for government intervention” and declaring that “prosecutorial resources should not be spent on trying to put doctors in jail,” Mayes declared that “we are not going to prosecute doctors and women in the state of Arizona for abortion, period.”
While taking issue with labeling the move “decriminalization,” she called it the “culmination of our collective promise to the people of Arizona to defend their fundamental right to make their own private medical decisions without governmental interference.”
The action means that a general ban on nearly all abortions and a ban on abortion at 15 weeks will not be enforced, regardless of whether they are upheld by the Arizona Supreme Court in currently-pending disputes. Also effectively rendered meaningless are current laws against abortions sought on the basis of a child’s race, sex, or genetic defects.
“Arizona law, A.R.S. 41-101, Section 8 states that the governor ‘may require the attorney general to aid a county attorney in the discharge of his duties.’ Aid does not mean supplant or replace,” Center for Arizona Policy president Cathi Herrod responded. “In her zeal for abortion, Gov. Hobbs has exceeded her authority as governor.”
Republican Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell, meanwhile, blasted the power grab as “dangerous”:
https://twitter.com/brahmresnik/status/1674179081905250306
“Our current governor took an entire category of potential offenses, and is attempting to prevent locally elected county attorneys from reviewing and making charging decisions in those matters,” she said. “What happens when another person occupies the governor’s seat and attempts this kind of power grab? What other set of offenses might a governor in the future not like and remove from local prosecutors?”
This controversy is only the latest consequence of Hobbs defeating Republican Kari Lake for the governorship of Arizona last year.
The governor has previously vetoed legislation to keep critical race theory out of public schools, conscience protections for COVID-19 vaccine mandates, and a requirement of basic medical care for infants who survive abortions; and issued executive orders requiring state agencies and government contractors to ignore “sexual orientation” and “gender identity or expression” as factors for employment decisions (even if relevant to contractors such as religious foster centers) and mandating coverage of gender “transition” interventions under state employee health insurance while prohibiting taxpayer funds from going toward providers of counseling for unwanted same-sex attraction.