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Dozens of elected prosecutors said Friday they would refuse to prosecute those seeking, assisting or providing abortions after the Supreme Court overturned the 1973 ruling that guaranteed a constitutional right to abortion.

Prosecutors from 29 states, territories and Washington, D.C., signed a joint statement that included signatories from states like Mississippi, Missouri and Wisconsin that have banned or are poised to ban abortion services following the reversal of Roe v. Wade.

“Not all of us agree on a personal or moral level on the issue of abortion,” said the statement signed by 84 prosecutors, a group that included district attorneys and state attorneys general. “But we stand together in our firm belief that prosecutors have a responsibility to refrain from using limited criminal legal system resources to criminalize personal medical decisions. As such, we decline to use our offices’ resources to criminalize reproductive health decisions and commit to exercise our well-settled discretion and refrain from prosecuting those who seek, provide, or support abortions.”

The prosecutors said enforcing abortion bans would also “hinder our ability to hold perpetrators accountable, take resources away from the enforcement of serious crime, and inevitably lead to the retraumatization and criminalization of victims of sexual violence.”

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GENEVA — The head of the World Health Organization says he’s “concerned and disappointed” about the U.S. Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus wrote on Twitter that the ruling was “both reducing women’s rights and access to health care.”

He said there was “irrefutable” evidence that restricting legal abortions can drive women and girls to unsafe and sometimes deadly procedures.

Meanwhile, French President Emmanuel Macron tweeted that abortion is “a fundamental right for all women” that must be protected.

The French Foreign Ministry urged U.S. federal authorities “to do everything possible” to ensure American women can have continued access to abortion, calling it “a health and survival issue for young girls and women.”

Alaska’s Republican governor said Friday he will propose a constitutional amendment that could potentially give voters a say in whether abortion is a constitutionally protected right in the state.

Courts have previously ruled that abortion is protected under the state constitution.

Gov. Mike Dunleavy said he would “be introducing a resolution for a proposed constitutional amendment to the Legislature in the next session to answer the question whether abortion shall, or not be a constitutionally protected right.”

The legislature next meets in January. The resolution has not been drafted yet, Jeff Turner, a spokesman for the governor, said.

Turner said the Legislature would have to approve it, and if it does it would go before voters in the next statewide election, which would be in 2024.

A constitutional amendment question before lawmakers and the voters could put at risk a right that is already judged by the courts to be protected, should voters approve a change.

Dunleavy, who says he is “pro life,” said that the Supreme Court’s Friday ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade “presents an opportunity for the people of Alaska, not a handful of elected officials or appointed judges, to decide the future of abortion in Alaska.”

Officials in Arkansas, one of 13 states with abortion-prohibiting trigger laws, notified reproductive health clinics Friday that abortion is now illegal in the state.

A letter addressed to Planned Parenthood warned that "purposefully performing or attempting to perform an abortion is a felony punishable by up to 10 years' imprisonment and a fine of up to $100,000."

Abortions performed in order to save the life of a woman in a medical emergency are exempted, the state's health chief, Paula Day, said in the letter to the nonprofit organization's offices in Arkansas and eastern Oklahoma.

The law prohibiting abortion went into effect about 2 p.m. when the state's attorney general certified the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling, Day said in the letter.

Planned Parenthood acknowledged in a statement that its facilities "are no longer able to offer abortion in the state." Planned Parenthood of Little Rock canceled all scheduled abortions following news of the state's certification of the high court's decision.

Emily Wales, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Great Plains, which serves Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri and Oklahoma, said it would still support women who need to go out of state to obtain the procedure.

"Planned Parenthood Great Plains is doing everything in our power to ensure that they have the resources they need to have an abortion, including support in traveling outside of their communities for care," she said in the statement.

Arkansas passed its trigger law in 2019.

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker has called a special season of the legislature to help grapple with the impact the Supreme Court’s abortion decision will have on the state.

In an interview, Pritzker said he expects the state will serve as a mecca to women living in red states that had banned or severely restricted abortion. He said he is anticipating an influx of abortion-seeking patients, which will require the state to expand its resources — that would likely come in the form of more health care workers and physical space to offer the care. 

Surrounding states, such as Missouri, have already all but fully restricted access to abortions. Last year, some 10,000 women traveled to Illinois to access reproductive care from surrounding states. That number is expected to surge. 

“In this case, its capacity to manage the procedures that women need,” Pritzker said Friday of the resources the state must discuss providing.  

“Illinois is a safe haven for women who are seeking to exercise their reproductive rights, and will continue to do that as long as we have a strong pro-choice Democratic legislature and strong, pro-choice governor,” Pritzker said. 

The Supreme Court decision comes four days before Illinois holds its primary elections. Pritzker said he expects abortion to be a general election issue in the fall.

Dozens of elected prosecutors nationwide said they would refuse to prosecute those seeking, assisting or providing abortions, according to a joint statement issued Friday.

"Not all of us agree on a personal or moral level on the issue of abortion," the statement, signed by 84 district attorneys and attorneys general, said. "But we stand together in our firm belief that prosecutors have a responsibility to refrain from using limited criminal legal system resources to criminalize personal medical decisions. As such, we decline to use our offices’ resources to criminalize reproductive health decisions and commit to exercise our well-settled discretion and refrain from prosecuting those who seek, provide, or support abortions."

The list of signatories included elected prosecutors from 29 states, territories and Washington, D.C.

Joe Gonzalez, a district attorney in Bexar County, Texas, said in a statement Friday that "using limited resources to prosecute personal healthcare decisions would be a violation” of his oath.

The list also included prosecutors from other states including Mississippi, Missouri and Wisconsin, among others, that have banned or are poised to ban abortion services.