Arizona court reinstates 1864 abortion ban

What happened

Arizona's Supreme Court on Tuesday reinstated a near-total ban on abortions first enacted in 1864. The law, enforceable again after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade, makes all abortions illegal in the state except to save the mother's life.

Who said what

President Joe Biden called the 4-2 decision by the all-Republican-appointed state Supreme Court "cruel" and "extreme." Reinstating 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," Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes said in a statement. "As long as I am Attorney General, no woman or doctor will be prosecuted under this law," Mayes added.  

The commentary

Mayes' decision to not enforce the 160-year-old law could be "challenged by one of the state's county attorneys," The Arizona Republic said. Anti-abortion conservatives are cheering but "Republican lawmakers and candidates" scrambled to distance themselves from the ruling, Axios said. Former President Donald Trump tried to "neutralize or at least muddy" the "galvanizing" abortion issue on Monday, Dan Balz said in The Washington Post. "The Arizona Supreme Court showed just how difficult" that will be.

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What next?

The ban will likely remain unenforced for at least 60 days. The advocacy group Arizonans for Abortion Access said it has enough signatures for a November ballot measure enshrining abortion rights in the state constitution.