diff --git a/lib/Dialect/Arc/Transforms/MergeIfs.cpp b/lib/Dialect/Arc/Transforms/MergeIfs.cpp
index cb25c42ac8..4ae8cf28c9 100644
--- a/lib/Dialect/Arc/Transforms/MergeIfs.cpp
+++ b/lib/Dialect/Arc/Transforms/MergeIfs.cpp
@@ -133,13 +133,19 @@ void MergeIfsPass::sinkOps(Block &rootBlock) {
     // Assign an order to this op.
     auto order = OpOrder{opOrder.size() + 1, 0};
     opOrder[&op] = order;
+    // Track whether the op is, or contains, any writes (and thus can't
+    // generally be moved into a block)
+    bool opContainsWrites = false;
 
     // Analyze the side effects in the op.
     op.walk([&](Operation *subOp) {
-      if (auto ptr = getPointerWrittenByOp(subOp))
+      if (auto ptr = getPointerWrittenByOp(subOp)) {
         nextWrite[ptr] = &op;
-      else if (!isa<StateReadOp, MemoryReadOp>(subOp) && hasSideEffects(subOp))
+        opContainsWrites = true;
+      } else if (!isa<StateReadOp, MemoryReadOp>(subOp) &&
+                 hasSideEffects(subOp)) {
         nextSideEffect = &op;
+      }
     });
 
     // Determine how much the op can be moved.
@@ -151,7 +157,7 @@ void MergeIfsPass::sinkOps(Block &rootBlock) {
       // Don't move across general side-effecting ops.
       if (nextSideEffect)
         moveLimit.maximize({nextSideEffect, opOrder.lookup(nextSideEffect)});
-    } else if (isa<StateWriteOp, MemoryWriteOp>(&op) || nextSideEffect == &op) {
+    } else if (opContainsWrites || nextSideEffect == &op) {
       // Don't move writes or side-effecting ops.
       continue;
     }
diff --git a/test/Dialect/Arc/merge-ifs.mlir b/test/Dialect/Arc/merge-ifs.mlir
index cc245f7554..bab275674d 100644
--- a/test/Dialect/Arc/merge-ifs.mlir
+++ b/test/Dialect/Arc/merge-ifs.mlir
@@ -281,3 +281,28 @@ func.func @MergeNestedIfs(%arg0: i42, %arg1: i1, %arg2: i1) {
   }
   return
 }
+
+// Check that ops containing a write aren't sunk
+// CHECK-LABEL: func.func @DontNestWrites
+func.func @DontNestWrites(%arg0: !arc.state<i1>, %arg1: i1, %arg2: i1) {
+  // We just want to check that the first if hasn't been moved into the second
+  // CHECK-NEXT:  {{%.+}} = scf.if %arg1 -> (i1) {
+  // CHECK:  } else {
+  // CHECK:  }
+  // CHECK-NEXT:  scf.if %arg2 {
+  // CHECK:  }
+  // CHECK-NEXT:  return
+
+  %1 = scf.if %arg1 -> (i1) {
+    %0 = hw.constant true
+    arc.state_write %arg0 = %0 : <i1>
+    scf.yield %0 : i1
+  } else {
+    %0 = hw.constant false
+    scf.yield %0 : i1
+  }
+  scf.if %arg2 {
+    %0 = comb.or %1, %1 : i1
+  }
+  return
+}