Posted on 07/05/2023 11:33:27 AM PDT by Morgana
Despite strong, bipartisan backlash, Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs doubled down Monday on a pro-abortion executive order that strips local prosecutors of their authority to investigate abortion cases.
County prosecutors wrote to the governor Monday, saying the order sets a “dangerous precedent” and Hobbs should rescind it. The letter was a bipartisan effort, and all but three of the 15 county prosecutors signed it, according to the Washington Examiner.
However, Hobbs spokesperson Christian Slater rejected the prosecutors’ request a few hours later.
“We will not rescind this order,” Slater said in a statement on Twitter. “Governor Hobbs will continue to use her lawful executive authority to put sanity over chaos and protect everyday Arizonans from extremists who are threatening to prosecute women and doctors over reproductive healthcare.”
On June 22, Hobbs signed an executive order that revokes local prosecutors’ ability to prosecute abortion violations and puts the power solely in the hands of pro-abortion Attorney General Kris Mayes.
A pro-abortion Democrat, Hobbs argued that the Attorney General’s Office should be the only authority to make decisions about enforcing abortion restrictions. That way “differences in interpretation or application of the law by different county attorneys do not chill, deter or restrict access to lawful abortion care,” Hobbs said.
Right now, Arizona law prohibits most abortions after 15 weeks. The state also has a pre-Roe v. Wade abortion ban that would protect all unborn babies, but it currently is blocked. The state Supreme Court is considering the case.
But if the attorney general is the only person tasked with enforcing the law and she refuses, abortionists could continue to kill unborn babies in abortions without fear.
In their letter Monday, county prosecutors said Hobbs’ order “sets a dangerous precedent and suggests that any Arizona governor can order the attorney general to assume all duties related to an entire category of criminal prosecution and, by consequence, prohibit local prosecutors from acting.”
Since Arizona became a state, they said elected local prosecutors have been the ones tasked with conducting criminal prosecutions. They accused Hobbs of an unprecedented power-grab and asked that she rescind the order by July 7.
“The governor’s office should not interfere with the discretion of prosecutors in fulfilling their duties as elected officials,” they wrote. “Whether this was the intended purpose, the result is an unnecessary and unjustified impingement on the duties and obligations of elected county attorneys in Arizona.”
Last week, state Senate leaders also accused Hobbs of “reckless abuse of power” and demanded that she revoke the order. In a letter to the governor, leaders of the Senate nominations committee said they will not approve any more of her nominees until she agrees to discuss their “tremendous concerns” with her actions.
“The conspiring of your office and the Attorney General to circumvent the laws of this state and this country, two executive offices charged with enforcing statute as it stands, give the Legislature tremendous concern about your office’s future attempts to act outside its vested authorities,” the committee leaders told Hobbs.
Arizona pro-life leaders expressed alarm about Hobbs’ actions, too.
“In her zeal for abortion, Gov. Hobbs has exceeded her authority as governor,” Cathi Herrod, Esq., president of the Center for Arizona Policy, responded in June. “The law does not allow her to strip county attorneys of their clear enforcement authority as granted in various Arizona laws.”
Herrod urged the governor to work with people on both sides of the abortion debate to serve pregnant women in need so they don’t feel like aborting their unborn babies is their only option.
Hobbs’ executive order attempts to expand abortion in a number of ways. Along with taking away local prosecutors’ authority, she also created a new Governor’s Advisory Council on Protecting Reproductive Freedom to make recommendations on how to expand access to “sexual and reproductive health care,” including elective abortions. The order also limits state agencies’ ability to help other states with their investigations of abortion violations.
Arizona has an 1864 state law that prohibits killing of unborn babies in abortions except if the mother’s life is at risk. If enforced, the law has the potential to save as many as 36 babies from abortion every day.
Last summer, the abortion ban went into effect temporarily after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, but the Planned Parenthood abortion chain sued and Arizona courts blocked the legislation in October.
Now, state lawmakers, pro-life advocates, doctors and others are urging the Arizona Supreme Court to reverse the ruling and allow the state to protect unborn babies again.
Stolen elections have consequences.
Sounds like something Michigan’s Frau Vitmer the insane would do.
Executive order trumps law? Who knew.
When does the recall start?
Katie understands that ‘she must now pay the piper’ for stealing the election for her. It’s gonna get uncomfortable for her...
Is that a rhetorical question? Rigged election, rigged recall, makes no difference.
I’m not up on Arizona politics and don’t know what happened in that election so you all will have to fill me in.
Then tell me when she gets “aborted”.
Arizonians who voted in Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs also voted in the DemonKKKrat Culture of Death. Those seniors who moved to Arizona for that dry humidity for their aches and pains, voted for that culture that will make it easier to end their lives for “humaine” reasons to benefit their heirs.
Katie believes in killing defenseless innocent American babies.
When you start hearing candidates hiding in the basement ala biden style that alone should immediately raise a red flag. That means the election has been fixed. AND THERE AIN’T JACK CHIT Y’ALL CAN DO ABOUT IT! That *itch hobbs knew the fraud machine was ready to give her a cheating victory. She knew that’s why she would hide her ugly nasty face in the rat hole from the mediavomits and denied Kari a debate. EFFIN AZ gave it up so easily like a w****!! UGH! No fighting spirit in AZ! WHERE IS THE RECALL PETITION FOR THIS POS TRASH??? We heard a lot of talk, but no action. Mark my words those bastards will cheat Trump from a victory in 2024 again in Arizona. They learned how to cheat without consequences for accountability and they’ll use it. They’re getting more and more experience while we turned our backs relying on the RNC to do something. They too were in the big steal! Problem is the RNC will be colluding with the DNC again in 2024 and we all know it.
Hobbs is both evil and stupid. What a combination for a governor.
I saw gonna say the same thing. You beat me to it.
I haven’t read the AZ Constitution, but I suspect there is a clause that requires its governor to faithfully execute the law.
Prosecutorial discretion in individual cases is one thing, but wholesale refusal to enforce a duly enacted law is quite another.
Impeachable offense.
Yep, but you still have to do it. And let everyone see the cheat.
Eventually, people will get fed up enough to do something about it.
If they don’t at least they will have earned every single bit of what they get.
Worse. She is taking the powers away from the local elected official. The people voted for these DA’s and have the right to expect them to enforce the laws already on the books. The state AG has no right to take away that authority without legislative action and, of course, the court cases that would ensue from such legislation. These DA’s need to sue the Gov and AG immediately and request an injunction stopping the AG from moving forward with the EO’s directive until the court makes a final decision.
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