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Arizona Supreme Court rules near total 1864 abortion ban enforceable – sending some Republicans scrambling

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The age-old question is: what would happen if a dog chasing a car finally caught it? In the wake of the Arizona Supreme Court’s ruling that an abortion ban from 1864 is enforceable, Republicans are now in that position. The ruling was particularly political ill-timed for Republicans: it came one day after former President Donald Trump said his basic position on abortion is leave it up to the individual states.

Trump’s position on abortion is merely his latest.

Trump has had many positions over the years. He’s had as many positions as the Kama Sutra.

Meanwhile, on social media, critics of the ruling now have come up with a new slogan for the Republican Party: “Party like its 1864.”

And a political drama is definitely unfolding as many GOPers are now trying to distance themselves from the ruling which some say could end in Arizona voters making Arizona less of a swing state amid reports that some anti-choice voters are now working to put abortion on Arizona’s November ballot.

NBC News reports:

The Arizona Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that a 160-year-old near-total abortion ban still on the books in the state is enforceable, a bombshell decision that adds the state to the growing lists of places where abortion care is effectively banned.

The ruling allows an 1864 law in Arizona to stand that made abortion a felony punishable by two to five years in prison for anyone who performs one or helps a woman obtain one.

The law — which was codified in 1901, and again in 1913 — outlaws abortion from the moment of conception but includes an exception to save the woman’s life.

That Civil War-era law — enacted a half-century before Arizona even gained statehood — was never repealed and an appellate court ruled last year that it could remain on the books as long as it was “harmonized” with a 2022 law, leading to substantial confusion in Arizona regarding exactly when during a pregnancy abortion was outlawed.

The decision — which could shutter abortion clinics in the state — effectively undoes a lower court’s ruling that stated that a more recent 15-week ban from March 2022 superseded the 1864 law.

The Arizona Supreme Court said it would put its decision on hold for 14 days, writing that it would send the case back to a lower court so that court could consider “additional constitutional challenges” that haven’t yet been cleared up.

Attorney General Kris Mayes, a Democrat, said moments after the ruling that she would not enforce the law.

“Let me be completely clear, as long as I am Attorney General, no woman or doctor will be prosecuted under this draconian law in this state,” Mayes said in a statement, adding that the decision was “unconscionable” and “an affront to freedom.”

Democrats all the way up to President Joe Biden also blasted the ruling.

“Millions of Arizonans will soon live under an even more extreme and dangerous abortion ban, which fails to protect women even when their health is at risk or in tragic cases of rape or incest,” Biden said in a statement. He called the ban “cruel” and “a result of the extreme agenda of Republican elected officials who are committed to ripping away women’s freedom” and vowed to “continue to fight to protect reproductive rights.”

….Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs called for the GOP-controlled Legislature, which is currently in session, to repeal the 1864 ban, though there was no immediate indication that Republican lawmakers in either chamber would take up such an effort.

“We are 14 days away from this extreme ban coming back to life,” Hobbs, a Democrat, said at a press conference. “It must be repealed immediately.”

AZ Central:

Enforcement would mean the end of legal abortions in Arizona, though some providers said they will continue offering abortions at least for a time — likely through May — because of a prior court ruling. And, the state’s top Democrats have taken steps to thwart that enforcement. Reproductive rights activists say it means Arizona women can expect potential health complications.

Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs issued an executive order last year giving all power to enforce abortion laws to the state attorney general. The current attorney general, Democrat Kris Mayes, has vowed not to enforce any abortion bans. But her decision and Hobbs’ order could be challenged by one of the state’s county attorneys.

The decision was 4-2, with Justices John R. Lopez IV, Clint Bolick, James P. Beene and Kathryn H. King in the majority. Lopez wrote the majority opinion, while Vice Chief Justice Ann A. Scott Timmer penned a dissent. Chief Justice Robert M. Brutinel joined Timmer. The court’s seventh justice, William G. Montgomery, recused himself from the case.

All of Arizona’s justices were appointed by Republican governors.

President Joe Biden was quick to respond:

Millions of Arizonans will soon live under an even more extreme and dangerous abortion ban, which fails to protect women even when their health is at risk or in tragic cases of rape or incest. This cruel ban was first enacted in 1864—more than 150 years ago, before Arizona was even a state and well before women had secured the right to vote. This ruling is a result of the extreme agenda of Republican elected officials who are committed to ripping away women’s freedom.

Vice President Harris and I stand with the vast majority of Americans who support a woman’s right to choose. We will continue to fight to protect reproductive rights and call on Congress to pass a law restoring the protections of Roe v. Wade for women in every state.

Democrats were seemingly salivating at the news – and were quick to pounce:

“This is what leaving it to the states looks like,” Biden campaign spokesperson Ammar Moussa wrote on the social platform X.

“This is what Donald Trump endorsed yesterday,” Kate Bedingfield, a former top aide on the Biden 2020 campaign and in the Biden White House, posted on X.

“An abortion ban from 1864… that’s what Trump supports,” wrote Kevin Munoz, another Biden campaign aide.

Jim Messina, a former top Obama campaign aide, called the Arizona ruling “the direct, intended consequence of [Trump’s] b.s. ‘leave it to the states’ line that people are letting him get away with. Trump presidency = abortion bans.”


Photo 40851868 | Abortion © Stevanovicigor | Dreamstime.com