Civil War-era abortion ban raised again, exactly what Roe opponents wanted

CNN
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It’s unpleasant to think that today’s Arizonans will soon be, thanks to a new state Supreme Court ruling. Arizona is a frontier state, living under abortion laws that predate light bulbs and antibiotics.

But this is actually the type of law that Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito referred to in his 2022 majority opinion overturning Roe v. Wade.

“It is surprising that Roe did not even mention the overwhelming consensus of state laws enacted in 1868,” Alito’s majority wrote, referring to the year the 14th Amendment was ratified. Ta. It was based on the Fourteenth Amendment that in 1973 the court created a woman’s constitutional right to an abortion until the fetus could survive outside the mother’s womb. In 2022, the court summarily disenfranchised the citizen, citing laws like the Arizona frontier law.

Laws enacted in states and territories such as Arizona in the 1860s, decades before women won the right to vote in the U.S., have led the Supreme Court in 2022 to state that “abortion rights are part of the history of this nation.” This led to the inevitable conclusion that it is not deeply rooted. And tradition. ”

And with the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Authority decision, which replaced Roe, the justices turned away from the ’70s idea that women should have certain rights, and instead turned their backs on the 70s idea that women should have certain rights. We went back to the 1860s idea that we should.

The patchwork of access created by the Dobbs decision has created an abortion-rights state and an anti-abortion state. The Arizona Supreme Court’s decision to revert to the 1864 law is just the latest evidence of the aftermath of torture.

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This week, former President Donald Trump celebrated his patchwork approach to abortion access, pledging to get out of the way of states if re-elected.

He may have been trying to neutralize what will be the biggest political issue in the upcoming presidential election and in individual states like Arizona. President Trump said that whatever decisions each state makes, “it has to be the law of the land. In this case, it’s the law of the state.”

The all-Republican-appointed Arizona Supreme Court upheld the old law, saying the state legislature “never actively created or independently authorized the right to elective abortion.” It was put on hold for 14 days.

The state Legislature, now dominated by Republicans, may try to find common ground with Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs, who said Tuesday was a “dark day for Arizona” because of the abortion decision. She called on Republicans in Congress to simply repeal the 1864 law.

However, state House and Senate leaders Ben Thoma and Warren Petersen, both supporters of the 1864 law, actively participated in the trial.

Arizona’s 1864 law bans nearly all abortions except to save the mother’s life in the key political battleground state, and carries prison terms for abortion providers. However, the state’s Democratic attorney general said in a statement that the state’s attorney general will not enforce the law. that. Read CNN’s Cindy Von Quednow, Christina Maxouris and Lauren Mascarenhas’ full report on Tuesday’s sentencing.

A further complication for Arizona is that former Republican Gov. Doug Ducey, in a Republican-controlled Legislature, actually enacted a 15-week abortion ban in 2022, months before the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe. That’s what I did. Prohibition of the week to nullify old laws.

In Arizona, abortion rights supporters have secured enough signatures for a November ballot measure that would amend the state constitution and create a “fundamental right” to abortion in the state, modeled on Roe v. Wade. He claims to have collected.

Abortion is also expected to be on the ballot in at least one other battleground state, Florida, where the Florida Supreme Court recently passed a bill banning abortion after six weeks of pregnancy that was signed into law by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis. supported.

Voters will have a chance to overturn Mr. DeSantis and the Republican Congress on abortion in November. In Arizona, voters will essentially be given the following choices: Turning our frontier predecessors upside down.

Women’s health advocates warn there will be even more immediate impacts in both states, as women face the possibility of suddenly being unable to access care.

The abortion issue has divided Republicans not only in Arizona but nationally. State House and Senate leaders support the 1864 law, but controversial Republican Senate candidate Kari Lake said in her campaign that Arizonans want a more modern law. He said that it was shown through. She called on Mr. Thoma and Mr. Petersen to work with Mr. Hobbs to repeal the law, even though she previously praised the bill as “a great law” in a 2022 podcast.

Nationally, President Trump has criticized his usual ally, Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, for not supporting Graham’s call for a 15-week national abortion ban. criticized.

Neither a national ban nor national abortion rights protections are likely to pass in the near future unless senators respect the practice that allows a 41-member minority in the 100-member Senate to block major legislation. Seem. Nevertheless, Democrats hope to use the abortion rights issue to mobilize voters in November.