PHOENIX -- A judge has ruled that the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office cannot force jail inmates to prepay the cost of being transported to a clinic to obtain an abortion.
Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Robert Oberbillig ruled Tuesday that the issue was covered by a 2005 injunction against the Sheriff's Office in which the department required a court order to transport an inmate to an abortion clinic.
The Sheriff's Office appealed that decision all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court and lost. The office then instituted a policy that inmates must prepay $300 to $600 in transport and security costs and could obtain a court order to get a waiver of that prepayment.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona argued that the prepayment created another obstacle to a woman's right to obtain a timely abortion under the U.S. Constitution. Neither the judge or the ACLU disputed the sheriff's right to obtain a reimbursement.
An attorney for Sheriff Joe Arpaio says the office would likely appeal Tuesday's ruling.
