Arizona’s Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday that a near-total ban on abortions tied to a Civil War-era law in the state is enforceable. Under that 1864 law, anyone who performs an abortion or helps a woman obtain one can be charged with a felony. The one exception to the prohibition is if an abortion is needed to save a woman’s life.
It’s a horrifying ruling, and all the more striking because Arizona is a purple state, not a bastion of deep social conservatism. The retrograde law dates back to before Arizona had even achieved statehood, and its reactivation was made possible by the U.S. Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade. On Wednesday, Arizona’s Republican leadership blocked an attempt by Democratic state legislators to repeal the law.
The draconian ruling may also generate an opportunity for reproductive rights activists to decisively win abortion rights in the state.
But the draconian ruling may also generate an opportunity for reproductive rights activists to decisively win abortion rights in the state. And in the process, it could help tip the 2024 presidential election in a major way.
Abortion rights groups in Arizona said last week — before the ruling — that they had surpassed the number of signatures required to put a constitutional amendment to enshrine abortion rights on the ballot in November. The court’s ruling makes that forthcoming vote look like a lifeline to pro-choice Arizonans. “I think this changes everything,” said Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes, a Democrat. “I think it supercharges the ballot initiative and it supercharges the elections of all pro-choice candidates.” Mayes has said that she will not prosecute abortion cases in the state.
Abortion rights ballot measures have driven strong turnout in recent contests in red and purple states. In Kansas in 2022, two years after the state voted for Donald Trump by nearly 15 percentage points, voters overwhelmingly rejected a ballot referendum removing the right to…
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