Arizona Supreme Court Reinstates Civil War-Era Abortion Ban

A nearly two-year legal battle over abortion in Arizona ended on April 9 with the state Supreme Court’s ruling that a pre-statehood ban on most abortions is legally enforceable in the state.

The 1864 law bans all abortions in Arizona, save those performed to save the life of the mother.

The 4–2 ruling reverses a lower court’s opinion that a 15-week abortion limit passed in 2022 supersedes the older law’s abortion restrictions. The Arizona Court of Appeals had held that the two laws could be “harmonized,” allowing doctors to perform abortions up to 15 weeks, but also permitting the prosecution of non-physicians who perform abortions in the state.

“We conclude that [the 2022 law] does not create a right to, or otherwise provide independent statutory authority for, an abortion that repeals or restricts [the 1864 ban], but rather is predicated entirely on the existence of a federal constitutional right to an abortion since disclaimed by Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization,” the Arizona Supreme Court wrote in its majority opinion.

Read Full Article Here