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Arizona’s Supreme Court has ruled that an 1864 law outlawing abortion is still enforceable. That could mean all abortion clinics in the state will be forced to shut down, though there is currently a hold on enforcing the law which means there will likely be lawsuits filed before anything else happens.
Arizona’s highest court on Tuesday upheld an 1864 law that bans nearly all abortions, a decision that could have far-reaching consequences for women’s health care and election-year politics in a critical battleground state.
The 1864 law, the court said in a 4-to-2 decision, “is now enforceable.” But the court put its ruling on hold for the moment, and sent the matter back to a lower court to hear additional arguments about the law’s constitutionality.
Because of a 14-day stay and another 45-day delay before enforcement, it will very likely be weeks before the law goes into effect.
The Arizona Supreme Court said that because the federal right to abortion in Roe v. Wade had been overturned, there was no federal or state law preventing Arizona from enforcing the near-total ban on abortions, which had sat dormant for decades.
Legally this makes sense. Abortion is not constitutional protected (and never should have been), therefore state laws regulating abortion are now valid. Granted 1864 is a very long time ago but the law was also reaffirmed twice in the early 20th century. Also, I don’t remember progressives being all that bothered when the 1799 Logan Act was used as a justification for investigating Michael Flynn.
