Arizona Supreme Court rules state must adhere to century-old law banning nearly all abortions

In a historic decision Tuesday, the Arizona Supreme Court ruled the state must adhere to a 160-year-old law barring all abortions except in cases when “it is necessary to save” a pregnant person’s life – a significant ruling that will make a Civil War-era abortion law enforceable in the state.

In a historic decision Tuesday, the Arizona Supreme Court ruled the state must adhere to a 160-year-old law barring all abortions except in cases when “it is necessary to save” a pregnant person’s life – a significant ruling that will make a Civil War-era abortion law enforceable in the state. The law can be traced back to as early as 1864 – before Arizona became a state – and was codified in 1901. It carries a prison sentence of two to five years for abortion providers – and it puts Arizona among the states with the strictest abortion laws in the country, alongside Texas, Alabama and Mississippi, where bans exist with almost no exceptions. The state Supreme Court has delayed enforcement of the law for 14 days to give the plaintiffs an opportunity to pursue other challenges in a lower court if they wish to do so, including whether the law is constitutional. In a statement shortly after the decision was published, Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes vowed, “No woman or doctor will be prosecuted under this draconian law in this state.” “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,” she said. The 4-2 ruling stems from a case that was revived after the US Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade in June 2022, ruling there was no longer a federal constitutional right to an abortion. Arizona’s former attorney general then moved to make the state’s near-total abortion ban enforceable again, but was opposed by Planned Parenthood Arizona, sparking yearslong legal challenges that led to Tuesday’s ruling.