Arizona Supreme court rules state can enforce 1864 law that bans abortion
9 April 2024, 21:37 | Updated: 9 April 2024, 23:42
Arizona's Supreme Court has ruled that the state can enforce a 160-year-old law that bans abortion.
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The law bans the procedure in all circumstances except when a mother's life is at risk. There are no exceptions for rape or incest.
It follows a case that examined whether Arizona can still be subject to a law that precedes its own statehood.
In 2022, the Court of Appeals ruled that doctors could not be charged for performing an abortion in the first 15 weeks of pregnancy.
A previous court decision blocked enforcing the 1864 law after the US Supreme Court issued the 1973 Roe v Wade decision, which guaranteed a constitutional right to an abortion.
After the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade in June 2022, then state attorney general Mark Brnovich, a Republican, persuaded a state judge in Tucson to lift the block on enforcing the 1864 law.
Mr Brnovich's Democratic successor, attorney general Kris Mayes, had urged the state's high court to side with the Court of Appeals and hold the 1864 law in abeyance.
Since the US Supreme Court's 2022 decision ending a nationwide right to abortion, most Republican-controlled states have started enforcing new bans or restrictions and most Democrat-dominated ones have sought to protect abortion access.
Currently, 14 states are enforcing bans on abortion at all stages of pregnancy, with limited exceptions.
Two states ban the procedure once cardiac activity can be detected, which is about six weeks into pregnancy and often before women realise they are pregnant.
Nearly every ban has been challenged with a lawsuit. Courts have blocked enforcing some restrictions, including bans throughout pregnancy in Utah and Wyoming.
A proposal pending before the Arizona Legislature that would repeal the 1864 law has not received a committee hearing this year.
"Today's decision to reimpose a law from a time when Arizona wasn't a state, the Civil War was raging, and women couldn't even vote will go down in history as a stain on our state," Ms Mayes said on Tuesday.
The justices said the state can start enforcing the law in 14 days.
