Justices from the Arizona Supreme Court Tuesday issued a ruling that revives a state law from 1864 that put criminal constraints on abortion.
According to CBS News, this new law supersedes a previous 15-week abortion ban passed in 2022 and it “has exceptions only to save the life of the mother but none in cases of rape or incest.”
In a Wednesday statement, the White House said that “millions of Arizonans will soon live under an even more extreme and dangerous abortion ban,” due to the ruling. It also noted that the ban was penned before Arizona even became a state.
“Today’s legislative action was unconscionable. The extremist Republican majority had the chance to do the right thing for their constituents, and they failed. As they have time and again, radical legislators protected a Civil War-era total abortion ban that jails doctors, strips women of our bodily autonomy and puts our lives at risk,” said Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs, a Democrat.
This is just one of the moves across the country to limit abortion access after the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health ruling that overturned decades of Roe v. Wade abortion protections, according to Planned Parenthood.
“Today’s decision adopts the fringe policy agenda of intervenors Dr. Eric Hazelrigg (a doctor at an anti-abortion clinic in Arizona) and Dennis McGrane (the anti-abortion Yavapai County Attorney) and their lawyers at the Alliance Defending Freedom over the common-sense arguments of Planned Parenthood Arizona,” the organization said Tuesday. It also added that Planned Parenthood locations will continue providing abortion services through 15 weeks for a limited period of time, until the state mandate related to the Planned Parenthood Arizona v. Mayes case is issued.
While the White House, Hobbs and Planned Parenthood stand in opposition to the ruling, the Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life Group praised it.
“We celebrate this 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 while providing an exception for the life of the mother,” SBA Pro-Life America President Marjorie Dannenfelser said. “This includes babies who have heartbeats, babies who can feel pain, and babies who can smile and suck their thumbs. Today’s state Supreme Court decision is a major advancement in the fight for life in Arizona.”
Kaiser Family Foundation polling released last month found that two-thirds of the public, including majorities of Democrats (86%) and independents (67%), support a law guaranteeing a federal right to abortion. At the same time, a majority of Republicans (57%) oppose a federal right to abortions.
Earlier this month, Audacy also reported on the Florida Supreme Court’s ruling to allow laws banning abortion after six weeks could go into effect next month. Former President Donald Trump, the presumptive GOP presidential nominee has criticized both the Arizona and Florida bans for going too far.
“Yeah, they did,” he said this week of the Arizona ruling, according to NBC News.
Ballot measures have been proposed in both states to establish rights to abortion. Here is the one for Arizona.