Despite Arizona’s near-total ban on abortion, it’s still on the books but buried deep in the state’s history until recently. An April ruling by the state’s Supreme Court breathed new life into the long-dormant law.
The ban was first imposed by territory In 1864, Arizona enacted a bill that was later codified into Arizona law – intentionally “causing a pregnant woman to miscarry” was punishable by two to five years in prison “unless necessary to save her life.”
The law ceased to be enforced in 1973 Roe v. Wade Recognize federal abortion rights. The state has since passed a series of new abortion restrictions, including a March 2022 law banning abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy “except in cases of medical emergencies.” So when the U.S. Supreme Court overturned roe In the June 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization case, no one in Arizona knew which state’s abortion rules to follow.
Mark Brnovich, then the state’s attorney general, attempted to enforce the more extreme prohibition in 1864. That led to a legal conflict with Planned Parenthood of Arizona, which argued that the old ban had been superseded by the new law.
On April 9, the Arizona Supreme Court ruled in Planned Parenthood of Arizona v. Meyers that the old ban “is now enforceable.”
As Justice John Lopez IV said in the majority opinion, the case was a “statutory interpretation case,” not the constitutionality of the old law. Lopez noted that the ruling “does not depend on the judge’s moral or public policy views regarding abortion.” Rather, it’s a matter of determining that Arizona’s 2022 abortion law does not “provide independent statutory authority” to repeal or limit the old ban.
Rather than allowing the state to immediately begin enforcing the ban, the court sent the case back to a lower court to explore other constitutional issues, suggesting the old ban could still be considered unconstitutional.
Still, the Democratic response was swift and decisive. President Joe Biden criticized the ruling as “the result of Republican elected officials committed to an extreme agenda of denying women’s freedom.” Arizona Attorney General Chris Meyers called the ruling “unconscionable and an affront to freedom.”
But even some Republican politicians in Arizona expressed displeasure with the decision. former governor doug ducey admit This was not the result he “wanted”. Incumbent Senate candidate Kari Lake, who previously expressed support for the 1864 law, said she opposed the ruling (although she later walked back that ruling as well).
Only a few years ago, this reaction from Republicans would have been surprising. But due to roe After being overturned, it turned out that voters were not very kind to extreme abortion positions or those who supported them. The court’s ruling puts abortion at the center of Arizona’s political landscape in an election year, tying Republicans to more moderate abortion restrictions that many Americans can support but to extreme bans that even many conservatives don’t support.
Perhaps that’s why some Republican lawmakers quickly worked with their Democratic colleagues in state legislatures to repeal the ban. The Republican-controlled House of Representatives passed a repeal bill on April 24 after three Republican representatives joined Democrats in voting to repeal the bill. The following week, the bill passed the (also Republican-controlled) Senate, where two conservative senators voted to repeal it.
Arizona Abortion Access has collected enough signatures to place a measure on the November 2024 ballot proposing an amendment to the state constitution that would guarantee “everyone the fundamental right to an abortion,” and Before the fetus is viable, the state cannot interfere with this right unless the justification is a compelling state interest achieved through the least restrictive means.
Leaving the abortion issue to the states will be a difficult journey. But this could be the path that ultimately leads to reproductive freedom in Arizona.
This article originally appeared in the print edition under the headline “Arizona Republican Abortion Defenders.”
