The ruling adds Arizona to the list of 16 other states where abortion is effectively banned and sent shockwaves through Washington, as abortion is likely to supercharge elections in the battleground state.
In a 4-2 decision, the court rejected arguments that it should uphold the current 15-week abortion ban signed in 2022 by then-Gov. Doug Ducey (R) in 2022 and enforced after the end of Roe v. Wade.
Instead, the court ruled that the Civil War-era law, which was passed before Arizona was even a state, should be enforced.
However, it’s not immediately clear how the law will be enforced, and the timing for it to take effect is also uncertain. The Supreme Court sent the case back to trial court to sort out constitutionality questions.
Democrats were quick to condemn 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,” President Biden said in a statement.
Gov. Katie Hobbs (D) said the law needs to be repealed.
“I am calling on the Legislature to do the right thing right now and repeal this 1864 ban and protect access to reproductive health care. The Republican majority in the Legislature has time and again refused to act to protect our freedoms,” Hobbs said.
But in a sign of how volatile the issue of abortion has been for Republicans, GOP Senate candidate Kari Lake and two of the state’s House Republicans up for reelection also raced to disavow it.
“I oppose today’s ruling, and I am calling on [Gov.] Katie Hobbs and the State Legislature to come up with an immediate common sense solution that Arizonans can support,” Lake said in a post on X.
When she was running for governor in 2022, Lake said the ban was a “great law.”
Rep. David Schweikert (R), who is one of the more vulnerable House Republicans being targeted by Democrats, said on X, formerly known as Twitter, “the issue should be decided by Arizonans, not legislated from the bench.”
Rep. Juan Ciscomani (R), who is running for reelection in the fall, called the ruling “a disaster for women and providers.”
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