New state abortion laws likely to become bogged down in legal challenges face another potential obstacle: prosecutors who refuse to enforce them.

The Associated Press reached out to nearly two dozen district attorneys across seven states, and several said they would not file criminal charges against doctors who violate the laws. Even a few who left open potentially charging doctors said they would not prosecute women for having an abortion, which some legal observers say could be a possibility under Georgia’s law.

View Comments (2)

“I am never going to enforce a law that’s unconstitutional, and furthermore, especially not one that targets women and girls,” said David Cooke, chief prosecutor in Macon, Georgia, about 80 miles (130 kilometers) southeast of Atlanta. . . .

The pushback highlights the vast authority of elected prosecutors and raises the potential for uneven enforcement of abortion laws within states.

“DAs have a tremendous amount of discretion,” said Peter Skandalakis, executive director of the Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council of Georgia, which trains prosecutors and guides them on their professional responsibilities. “All DAs have a lot more on their plate than they can possibly do when they’re looking at cases on whether or not they prosecute.”

Of the district attorneys AP contacted in Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Utah, Louisiana, Ohio and Missouri – states that have recently enacted or are about to enact abortion restrictions – most did not respond or declined to comment. . . .

The new laws will almost certainly be put on hold while legal challenges play out. (Excerpt from The Washington Times, article by Sudhin Thanawala.)