PHOENIX (AP) — An Arizona Supreme Court ruling Tuesday that will end virtually all abortions in the state brings the issue to the forefront in a battleground state that will play a crucial role in deciding the next president and the majority of the Senate.
Democrats immediately pounced on the decision, blaming former President Donald Trump for the loss of access to abortion after the U.S. Supreme Court, reshaped by his three appointments, ruled ended the nation’s right to abortion and allowed laws like Arizona’s, which was first passed in 1864.
“Today’s decision to reimpose a law from a time when Arizona was not a state, the Civil War raged, and women couldn’t even vote, will go down in history as a stain on our state,” Democratic Attorney General Kris Mayes said. in a report. She promised that prosecutors in her office would not enforce it.
The move will give Arizona the strictest abortion laws among the six major battlegrounds likely to decide the next president. The law allows doctors or others who perform abortions to be prosecuted at any time, unless the mother’s life is in danger. It does not include exceptions for rape or incest. Georgia bans abortions after about six weeks, while Nevada, Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania all allow abortions up to 20 weeks or more.
Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs, also a Democrat, said the decision “only serves to create more chaos for women and doctors in our state,” pointing to Republicans’ responsibility for a “never-ending attack against our fundamental rights.
The move comes a day after Trump said limits on abortion should be left to states and refused to endorse a national ban after months of mixed messages and speculation.
Voters have historically supported looser abortion laws when the question was directly posed to them, including in conservative states like Kansas and Kentucky. This issue is credited with helping Democrats outperform expectations in the 2022 midterm elections.
In Arizona, the political consequences of Tuesday’s decision could be far-reaching. President Joe Biden has placed abortion rights at the center of his campaign, as has Democratic Senate candidate Ruben Gallego.
It will also intensify efforts by abortion rights advocates to put before voters a ballot measure that would restore abortion rights. And it will likely give a boost to Democrats seeking to win the legislative majority, giving them power over election laws in a battleground state.
According to AP VoteCast, a broad survey of the electorate, 61% of Arizona voters in the 2022 midterm elections said abortion should be legal in most or all cases. Only 6% said it should be illegal in all cases.
Two-thirds of Arizona midterm voters said overturning Roe v. Wade by the Supreme Court was a significant factor in their vote this election.
About 6 in 10 Arizona voters this election said they would support a law guaranteeing access to legal abortion nationwide.
Planned Parenthood officials said they will continue to offer abortions up to 15 weeks, as allowed by Arizona courts, but are expected to end them in the coming months.
The old law was first enacted among a set of laws known as the “Howell Code” passed by the 1st Arizona Territorial Legislature in 1864, decades before Arizona became a state in 1912. Legislative scholars have stated that it remained in the penal code in 1901 and was adopted. readopted in later rewrites, including in the 1970s.
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Associated Press writer Linley Sanders in Washington contributed.
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