Isaacson v. Horne

884 F. Supp. 2d 961, 2012 WL 3090247, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 105825
CourtDistrict Court, D. Arizona
DecidedJuly 30, 2012
DocketNo. CV-12-01501-PHX-JAT
StatusPublished

This text of 884 F. Supp. 2d 961 (Isaacson v. Horne) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Arizona primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Isaacson v. Horne, 884 F. Supp. 2d 961, 2012 WL 3090247, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 105825 (D. Ariz. 2012).

Opinion

ORDER

JAMES A. TEILBORG, District Judge.

Pending before the Court are: (1) Defendant Montgomery’s Motion to Dismiss (Doc. 25), (2) Plaintiffs’ Motion for Preliminary Injunction (Doc. 2), and (3) Defendant Montgomery’s Motion to Dismiss Defendant LaWall (Doc. 42). The Court held a preliminary injunction hearing on July 25, 2012 and took these matters under advisement. The Court now rules on the Motions.

I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

Arizona House Bill 2036 (“H.B. 2036”) was approved by Governor Janice K. Brewer on April 12, 2012 and is set to take effect on August 2, 2012. On July 12, 2012, Plaintiffs filed a Complaint in this Court seeking a declaratory judgment that section 7 of H.B. 2036 is unconstitutional. Plaintiffs also request a preliminary and permanent injunction: (1) restraining Defendants, their employees, agents, and successors from enforcing section 7 as to previability abortions and (2) prohibiting Defendants, their employees, agents, and successors from bringing enforcement actions for previability abortions performed while any injunction is in effect restraining enforcement of section 7. Plaintiffs specifically object to the portion of section 7 that provides:

Except in a Medical Emergency, a person shall not knowingly perform, induce or attempt to perform or induce an abortion on a pregnant woman if the probable gestational age of her unborn child has been determined to be at least twenty weeks.

H.B. 2036, 50th Leg., 2d Reg. Sess. § 7 (Ariz. 2012) (to be codified as Ariz.Rev. Stat. § 36-2159(B)). “A person who knowingly violates this section commits a class 1 [963]*963misdemeanor.” H.B. 2036, 50th Leg., 2d Reg. Sess. § 7 (Ariz. 2012) (to be codified as Ariz.Rev.Stat. § 36-2159(C)). Further, “[a] physician who knowingly violates this section commits an act of unprofessional conduct and is subject to license suspension or revocation pursuant to title 32, chapter 13 or 17.” H.B. 2036, 50th Leg., 2d Reg. Sess. § 7 (Ariz. 2012) (to be codified as Ariz.Rev.Stat. § 36~2159(D)). The statutory scheme also gives standing to certain individuals to bring civil actions for violations of section 36-2159. H.B. 2036, 50th Leg., 2d Reg. Sess. § 7 (Ariz. 2012) (to be codified as Ariz.Rev.Stat. § 36-2159(E)-(H)).

“Abortion” is defined as:
the use of any means to terminate the clinically diagnosable pregnancy of a woman with knowledge that the termination by those means will cause, with reasonable likelihood, the death of the unborn child. Abortion does not include birth control devices, oral contraceptives used to inhibit or prevent ovulation, conception or implantation of a fertilized ovum in the uterus or the use of any means to save the life or preserve the health of the unborn child, to preserve the life or health of the child after a live birth, to terminate an ectopic pregnancy or to remove a dead fetus.

H.B. 2036, 50th Leg., 2d Reg. Sess. § 3 (Ariz. 2012) (to be codified as Ariz.Rev. Stat. § 36-2151(1)).

“Gestational age” is defined as “the age of the unborn child as calculated from the first day of the last menstrual period of the pregnant woman.” H.B. 2036, 50th Leg., 2d Reg. Sess. § 3 (Ariz. 2012) (to be codified as Ariz.Rev.Stat. § 36-2151(4)).

“Medical emergency” is defined as “a condition that, on the basis of the physician’s good faith clinical judgment, so complicates the medical condition of a pregnant woman as to necessitate the immediate abortion of her pregnancy to avert her death or for which a delay will create serious risk of substantial and irreversible impairment of a major bodily function.” H.B. 2036, 50th Leg., 2d Reg. Sess. § 3 (Ariz. 2012) (to be codified as Ariz.Rev.Stat. § 36-2151(6)).

“Viable fetus” is defined as “the unborn offspring of human beings that has reached a stage of fetal development so that, in the judgment of the attending physician on the particular facts of the case, there is a reasonable probability of the fetus’ sustained survival outside the uterus, with or without artificial support.” Ariz.Rev.Stat. Ann. § 36-2301.01; H.B. 2036, 50th Leg., 2d Reg. Sess. § 1 (Ariz. 2012) (to be codified as Ariz.Rev.Stat. § 36-449.01(7)) (‘“Viable fetus’ has the same meaning prescribed in section 36-2301.01.”).

In section 9 of H.B. 2036, the Arizona Legislature listed a number of findings and purposes it made in promulgating H.B. 2036. Findings in support of section 7 include: (1) that abortion “can cause serious both short-term and long-term physical and psychological complications for women;” (2) that abortion “has a higher medical risk when the procedure is performed later in pregnancy. Compared to an abortion at eight weeks of gestation or earlier, the relative risk increases exponentially at higher gestations;” (3) “[t]he incidence of major complications is highest after twenty weeks of gestation;” (4) “[t]he risk of death associated with abortion increases with the length of pregnancy, from one death for every one million abortions at or before eight weeks gestation to one per 29,000 abortions at sixteen to twenty weeks and one per 11,000 abortions at twenty-one or more weeks ... After the first trimester, the risk of hemorrhage from an abortion, in particular, is greater, and the resultant complications [964]*964may require a hysterectomy, other reparative surgery or a blood transfusion;” (5) “[t]here is substantial and well-documented medical evidence that an unborn child by at least twenty weeks of gestation has the capacity to feel pain during an abortion;” and (6) that the State of Arizona has a legitimate concern in protecting the public’s health and safety, including the health of women who undergo abortions. H.B. 2036, 50th Leg., 2d Reg. Sess. § 9(A)(l-7) (Ariz. 2012).

As a result of these findings, the Arizona Legislature stated that it promulgated H.B. 2036 “based on the documented risks to women’s health and the strong medical evidence that unborn children feel pain during an abortion at [20 weeks] gestational age.” H.B. 2036, 50th Leg., 2d Reg. Sess. § 9(B)(1) (Ariz. 2012).

II. DEFENDANT MONTGOMERY’S MOTION TO DISMISS

Defendant Montgomery (“Defendant”) filed a motion to dismiss, arguing that, under Gonzales v. Carhart, 550 U.S. 124, 127 S.Ct. 1610, 167 L.Ed.2d 480 (2007), the Court cannot entertain a facial attack to H.B. 2036.1 (Doc. 25).

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Bluebook (online)
884 F. Supp. 2d 961, 2012 WL 3090247, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 105825, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/isaacson-v-horne-azd-2012.