Arizona Supreme Court Upholds a 160-Year Old Abortion Ban

A near-total abortion ban could go into effect in Arizona as soon as this month. In a new ruling, the state’s supreme court voted 4-2 in favor of upholding a law from 1864 criminalizing all abortions except in cases in which the life of the mother is in danger.

The law is currently under a 14-day stay while a lower court hears additional arguments, per HuffPost. Since 2022, Arizona has had a 15-week cutoff for abortions, but this ruling would supersede that and punish abortion providers with up to five years in prison.

This 160-year-old law would be one of the most restrictive in the country, though many states have, in the past couple years, passed their own severe laws around abortion. A year ago Wyoming outlawed the abortion pill, and a Texas woman recently had to travel out of state to have the procedure, as unclear and ill-defined exceptions in the state’s laws made it too difficult for health care providers to be sure that they would not be penalized.

In response to the ruling, President Joe Biden released a statement calling the ban “dangerous” and “cruel,” noting that it makes no exception for rape or incest. He also pointed out that the law was written before Arizona was a state and before women had the right to vote.

Arizona governor Katie Hobbs also spoke out against the ruling in a video message. She called the law “archaic” and “callous,” and those upholding it, “radical extremists.” She shared that she had previously lost a pregnancy and noted that, as it stands, her young daughter currently has fewer rights than Hobbs did at her age.

Hobbs also reaffirmed that her previously issued executive order protecting women and health care workers from prosecution still stands, and vowed to fight for a more “commonsense” abortion policy in her state.