WASHINGTON – County attorneys are taking next steps, including possible lawsuits against Governor Katie Hobbs, after Gov. are considering.

Eleven of the state’s 15 county attorneys last week sent a letter to Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell, telling Hobbs of the June 22 date. presidential decree This is a “drastic attempt” to reverse the duties and discretion of individual county attorneys in criminal prosecution.

“This is not about abortion, it’s basically about power lanes,” said Cochise County Attorney Brian McIntyre, one of the 12 attorneys who participated in the letter. “And the question is, if this governor, if he wants to, does it, who’s going to say what the next … step will be?”

Mitchell’s letter He said the order sets a dangerous precedent because it gives future governors the power to give to the attorney general. “It is a grave overstatement to suggest that the governor may strip local elected officials of prosecutorial discretion,” the letter said.

Mr Hobbes disagreed.

of response On Friday, the governor said her order was not motivated by a desire to interfere with prosecutorial discretion, but “is the governor’s legitimate discretion to ensure equal protection and equal access to reproductive health care statewide.” said.

Hobbes said the order, which came nearly a year after the Supreme Court overturned the Roe v. Wade abortion ruling, was necessary to end a year of uncertainty over Arizona’s abortion law. rice field.

But Mitchell said in a statement Monday that the governor does not have “the authority to remove authority” from county attorneys and that the attorney general cannot order district attorneys to “turn cases over without specific cause.” Stated.

“For all these reasons, I will continue to conduct business as usual in my office,” Mitchell said in a statement.

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The order seeks to “centralize abortion-related criminal prosecution authority” under Attorney General Chris Mays for current or future abortion-related prosecutions by county attorneys.

Arizona law has changed several times since the Supreme Court overturned the constitutional right to abortion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health last June. Deferring the decision of what cases to prosecute to the district attorney “whether and how county attorneys within the state will criminally prosecute the same or similar acts related to abortion care.” It could lead to different decisions about whether to prosecute, which could have a deterrent chilling effect,” and limit access to legal abortion care,” the order said.

The order also prohibits state officials from providing information or assisting other states in prosecuting abortion cases not punishable under Arizona law. It also prohibits extradition of Arizonans to other states for criminal prosecution on abortion charges.

Finally, the order established the Reproductive Freedom Protection Advisory Board, tasked with expanding access to sexual and reproductive health care in the state.

Most of the county attorneys who signed Mitchell’s letter did not respond to a request for comment on Monday about the decision to uphold Mr. Hobbs’ order. A spokeswoman for Gila County Attorney Bradley Beecham said the office declined to comment.

A spokeswoman for Pinal County Attorney Kent Volkmer said the department is “considering all options” on how it wants to proceed.

Of the three county attorneys who did not sign the letter (Pima County Attorney Laura Conover, La Paz County Attorney Tony Rogers, and Apache County Attorney Michael Whiting), Rogers and Whiting commented Monday. did not respond to the request. But Mr. Conover defended the governor’s order.

“We agree with the Governor regarding both the urgency and seriousness of this very specific situation,” Conover said in a June 23 statement. statement. “We will voluntarily direct all criminal referrals to the Attorney General in the spirit of correcting this constitutional inequality.”

McIntyre said the lawyers who signed the letter were “still working on the next steps.” “Normally, what we would be looking at would be to file a lawsuit, unfortunately,” he said.

“There have been some discussions, but I don’t think there is a final decision as to what we will do next as a group,” he said Monday. “And that could happen individually, with each county taking action. Or, like I said, it could happen as a group.”