The Arizona Supreme Court has ruled a 160-year-old law enforcing an almost total ban on abortion could take effect in two weeks, but it faces resistance from political leaders from both major parties. It will supersede a 2022 law that prohibits the procedure after 15 weeks of pregnancy and the only exception would be for when a mother’s life is at risk.
The court decided Arizona is still subject to the 1864 law that predates its statehood. That’s because the US Supreme Court overturned the Roe v. Wade decision supporting a nationwide abortion law. A state judge then lifted the block on the much more restrictive law from the Civil War era which had been dormant for half a century.
The justices who were all nominated by Republican governors have put the ruling on hold for at least 14 days, and sent the case back to a lower court for added arguments about the law’s constitutionality. Despite uncertainty over whether the ban will survive further scrutiny, the decision was quickly celebrated by leading anti-abortion activists, including the head of Susan B Anthony Pro-Life America Marjorie Dannenfelser who called it an “enormous victory for unborn children and their mothers. Reinstating Arizona’s pro-life law will protect more than 11,000 babies annually at all stages of pregnancy.”
The BBC reports that in a presidential election year, the ruling has potentially sweeping implications for women’s healthcare in a battleground state. If it is enforced, Arizona women seeking an abortion would have to travel to a neighbouring state where the procedure is still legal, such as California, New Mexico or Nevada. The Republicans’ presumptive presidential nominee and former President Donald Trump said the ban goes too far, but he told reporters he expected it to be “straightened out.”
The state’s Democrat Governor Katie Hobbs has called for the law to be repealed and Attorney General Kris Mayes, a fellow Democrat, has said she will not prosecute Arizonans for performing or obtaining an abortion. The Associated Press reports that in the Republican-controlled, but evenly divided Arizona House and Senate, just a few concerned Republican lawmaker could help the Democrats overturn what they label an “extreme” law. Some have already indicated that they are considering doing so.
Arizona is likely to have an abortion ballot initiative of its own in November. The vote would give Arizonans the chance to allow abortion access up to 24 weeks of pregnancy and override the 1864 ban if it’s still in place.
