Nelson v. Planned Parenthood Center of Tucson, Inc.

505 P.2d 580, 19 Ariz. App. 142, 1973 Ariz. App. LEXIS 851
CourtCourt of Appeals of Arizona
DecidedJanuary 30, 1973
Docket2 CA-CIV 1302
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 505 P.2d 580 (Nelson v. Planned Parenthood Center of Tucson, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Arizona primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Nelson v. Planned Parenthood Center of Tucson, Inc., 505 P.2d 580, 19 Ariz. App. 142, 1973 Ariz. App. LEXIS 851 (Ark. Ct. App. 1973).

Opinions

HOWARD, Judge.

Appellants were the defendants in an action filed in the Superior Court of Pima County wherein appellees sought a declaratory judgment under A.R.S. § 12-1831 et seq., adjudicating the following sections of Arizona Revised Statutes, relating to abortion, to be void for unconstitutionality under the Constitutions of the United States and the State of Arizona:

“§ 13-211. . . .
A person who provides, supplies or administers to a pregnant woman, or procures such woman to take any medicine, drugs or substance, or uses or employs any instrument or other means whatever, with intent thereby to procure the miscarriage of such woman, unless it is necessary to save her life, shall be punished by imprisonment in the state pris-son for not less than two years nor more than five years.
§ 13-212. . . .
A woman who solicits from any person any medicine, drug or substance whatever, and takes it, or who submits to an operation, or to the use of any means whatever, with intent thereby to procure a miscarriage, unless it is necessary to preserve her life, shall be punished by imprisonment in the state prison for not less than one nor more than five years.
§ 13-213. . . .
A person who wilfully writes, composes or publishes a notice or advertisement of any medicine or means for producing or facilitating a miscarriage or abortion, or for prevention of conception, or who offers his services by a notice, advertisement or otherwise, to assist in the accomplishment of any such purposes, is guilty of a misdemeanor.”

Appellee Planned Parenthood Center of Tucson, Inc., is a nonprofit corporation or[143]*143ganized pursuant to the laws of the State of Arizona and is actively engaged in providing family planning services in the metropolitan area of Tucson, Arizona; ap-pellees Herbert Pollock, John McEvers, Max Costin, Nathaniel Bloomfield, Arnold Lilien, Louis Brunsting, Stuart Edelberg, Damon Raphael, Robert Oliver and David Trisler, are physicians licensed to practice medicine within the State of Arizona and are practicing the specialty of obstetrics and gynecology within Pima County, Arizona.

A “Jane Doe” was a plaintiff in the trial court when the action was commenced. “Jane Roe” was later substituted for Jane Doe and prior to the conclusion of the trial it was stipulated that Jane Roe had obtained an out-of-state abortion.

Appellees alleged that except for the risk of criminal prosecution the appellee Planned Parenthood Center of Tucson, Inc., would refer some of its clients to licensed physicians, when medically justified, in order that abortions could be performed on them to terminate pregnancy, although the procedures were not necessary to save the lives of such pregnant women. These clients would include women who might be suffering from diseases which woiild present either a substantial risk that the fetus would be born with grave birth defects or would prevent them from adequately caring for the children after birth. Their complaint also alleged that appellee Planned Parenthood Center of Tucson, Inc., if it were not for the risk of criminal prosecution, would afford its services, where medically justifed, by means of notices, advertisements and otherwise to assist its clients in procuring abortions and preventing conception.

It was further alleged that the ten named physicians, except for the risk of criminal prosecution under the abortion statutes, would respectively perform or arrange for the performance of abortions on pregnant women, where medically indicated, even though such procedures might not be necessary to save the lives of such women.

The question as to whether a justiciable controversy existed has been previously answered in the affirmative by this court. Planned Parenthood Center of Tucson, Inc. v. Marks, 17 Ariz.App. 308, 497 P.2d 534 (1972).

The trial court, in a memorandum opinion, held that a fetus is not a person entitled to Fourteenth Amendment rights and does not have constitutionally protected rights; that A.R.S. § 13-211 is overbroad and violates the fundamenal right of marital and sexual privacy of women guaranteed by the Ninth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution; and that A.R.S. § 13-211 also violates the constitutional rights of physicians who attend to the medical needs of pregnant women because it denies each physician his right to practice medicine in a manner which permits him to fulfill his professional ethical obligation to his patient. It entered a declaratory judgment in favor of the appel-lees and against the appellants and enjoined appellants from enforcing the provisions of Arizona’s abortion statutes against appellees and their patients, present or prospective. Appelees cross-appeal from that part of the judgment which limited the in-junctive relief to them.

At the outset we observe that the concern of both appellants and appellees is motivated by the highest of moral considerations and one should not question the good intentions of either side. Abortion is at once a moral, medical, legal, sociological, philosophical, demographic and psychological issue, not readily amenable to one-sided thinking.

The thrust of appellees’ attack against the abortion statutes appears in their opening brief:

“Plaintiffs do not claim that the Legislature is without power to regulate abortion; Plaintiffs freely admit that the Legislature has the power to regulate such matters as the persons by whom the procedure may be performed, the places at which it may be performed, (arguably) the stage of pregnancy at which [144]*144it may be performed, and (more arguably) some of the reasons which would justify performance.” 1

They specifically attack these statutes on the following constitutional grounds : (1) A.R.S. § 13-211 is vague and indefinite; (2) the statutes violate the right of personal privacy and the right to recommend, give and receive medical treatment; (3) the statutes are an invalid exercise of the police power because there is no sufficient state interest. (This contention seems to conflict with appellees’ admission that the state has a right to regulate the matter of abortion.); (4) the statutes are overbroad; (5) the statutes constitute an establishment of religion; and (6) they discriminate against women having a low economic status.

Appellees commence their argument with a major premise with which we do not agree. They argue that since our abortion statutes are modeled upon and adopted from California law, we should adhere to the legislative history of the California statutes as set forth in People v. Belous, 71 Cal.2d 954, 80 Cal.Rptr. 354, 458 P.2d 194 (1969).

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Nelson v. Planned Parenthood Center of Tucson, Inc.
505 P.2d 580 (Court of Appeals of Arizona, 1973)

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Bluebook (online)
505 P.2d 580, 19 Ariz. App. 142, 1973 Ariz. App. LEXIS 851, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/nelson-v-planned-parenthood-center-of-tucson-inc-arizctapp-1973.