The Arizona Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that a 160-year-old near-total abortion ban still on the books in the state is enforceable, a bombshell decision that adds the state to the growing lists of places where abortion care is effectively banned.
The ruling allows an 1864 law in Arizona to stand that criminalized abortion by making it a felony punishable by two to five years in prison for anyone who performs or helps a woman obtain one.
The law — which was codified again in 1901, and once again in 1913, after Arizona became a state — included an exception to save the woman's life.
The decision — which could shutter abortion clinics in the state — effectively undoes a lower court's ruling that stated that a more recent 15-week ban from March 2022 superseded the 1864 law.
"Absent the federal constitutional abortion right, and because" the 2022 law does not independently authorize abortion, there is no provision in federal or state law prohibiting" the 1864 ban.
Persons:
—, Dobbs, Roe, Wade
Organizations:
Arizona Supreme
Locations:
Arizona