Arizona: Justice upholds near-total abortion ban, 160 years, Biden condemns ‘cruel’ law

In a symbolic decision months before the presidential election in this key state in the southern United States, Arizona’s highest court ruled Tuesday that an 1864 law banning nearly all abortions applies. This law prohibits all abortions from the moment of conception, except when the mother’s life is in danger. Rape or incest are not considered valid exceptions.

But Arizona Attorney General Chris Mayes, a Democrat, has long warned that she would not pursue any prosecution. “I will continue to fight for Arizonans to have the absolute right to make private medical decisions with their doctors without government interference,” she wrote on social media site X.

After remaining dormant for decades, the 1864 law is “now applicable,” according to the Arizona Supreme Court.

The justices ruled that nothing prevents its application because constitutional protections for abortion were repealed in 2022, leaving each state responsible for enacting legislation on the issue. While the law is not expected to be enforced at this time, that could change with the election of prosecutors in the United States.

Following the decision, Joe Biden immediately condemned the “cruel” law. “This decision is the result of a radical agenda of Republican elected officials who seek to deny women their freedom,” he condemned in a press release. The new legal framework “does not protect women even when their health is at risk or in tragic cases of rape or incest,” he insisted.

In 2020, Biden defeated Trump by 10,000 votes.

The decision thus heightens the electoral stakes ahead of the presidential election in a key state where Joe Biden defeated Donald Trump by just 10,000 votes in 2020. On Monday, Donald Trump rightly stressed that he wants to give American states the benefit of a free hand on abortion laws if he returns to the White House.

“The states will decide by vote or by law, or perhaps both. Whatever they decide must have the force of law,” he said. Abortion has been a battleground for the conservative movement for decades, but repealing the federal guarantee of abortion rights has proven very unpopular among the general American public in several recent elections. President Joe Biden immediately condemned the “cruel” law.