Supreme Court Upholds Ruling Rejecting Arizona Abortion Access Policy For Pregnant Inmates

Main Category: Abortion
Also Included In: Public Health
Article Date: 26 Mar 2008 - 5:00 PDT

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The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday without comment rejected an appeal aimed at reinstating a Maricopa County, Ariz., policy that required deputies to transport inmates to medical facilities for abortions after obtaining court orders, the New York Times reports (Greenhouse, New York Times, 3/25). The policy was found to pose an unconstitutional burden on female inmates by a three-judge panel of the Arizona Court of Appeals in January 2007, the AP/San Diego Union-Tribune reports (AP/San Diego Union-Tribune, 3/24).

Arizona law forbids state tax dollars from being used to pay for abortion procedures, but the law does not include language about transporting women to abortion clinics. In May 2004, while detained at Maricopa County's Estrella Jail, an unnamed inmate sought an abortion that she had already scheduled and for which she had already paid. Under the county policy, deputies refused to bring her to the clinic without a court order. After being denied two court orders, the woman was granted a temporary restraining order against the county policy and had an abortion. The American Civil Liberties Union in October 2004 challenged the policy. Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Barry Schneider in August 2005 ruled the county policy unconstitutional (Daily Women's Health Policy Report, 1/25/07).

The state appeals court said that county spending for the actual abortion was not at issue in the case, adding that the county routinely and safely transports many inmates to and from a variety of locations for medical services and other purposes. In addition, Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio gave no indication that transporting women for abortions posed security problems, the appeals court said. U.S. Supreme Court justices did not comment on their decision to uphold the lower courts' rulings (AP/San Diego Union-Tribune, 3/24).

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