:format(webp)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/grupoclarin/6PRZHXCWDNHV5GJFQTPURNL2MM.jpg "Arizona Supreme Court ruling restores near-total ban on abortion in 1864")
2024-04-10 06:12:02
PHOENIX (AP) — The Arizona Supreme Court issued a landmark decision Tuesday that greenlights the use of a long-unenforced law that bans nearly all abortions, dramatically altering the state’s legal landscape. regarding termination of pregnancy.
The law, prior to the creation of the state, does not contemplate exceptions for cases of rape or incest, and allows abortion only if the mother’s life is in danger. The high court suggested that doctors can be prosecuted under the 1864 rule, although the opinion signed by the court’s majority does not explicitly mention it.
Tuesday’s decision overturned an earlier lower court ruling that doctors might not be prosecuted for performing abortions in the first 15 weeks of gestation.
The law went into effect decades before Arizona became a state on February 14, 1912. A court in Tucson had blocked its application shortly following the U.S. Supreme Court issued its 1973 decision on Roe v. Wade, which guaranteed the constitutional right to abortion.
When the federal high court overturned that historic ruling in June 2022, the then state attorney general, Republican Mark Brnovich, successfully requested that a state judge lift the order blocking the application of the 1864 veto.
The state Court of Appeals suspended the rule and Brnovich’s successor, Democrat Kris Mayes, urged Arizona’s highest court to uphold that judicial decision.
The law mandates the prosecution of “any person who provides, supplies or administers to a pregnant woman, or causes such woman to take any medication, drug or substance, or uses or employs any instrument or other means, with the intent to provoke a spontaneous abortion for that woman, unless it is necessary to save her life.”
The Arizona Supreme Court suggested in its ruling Tuesday that the doctors can be prosecuted, although the justices did not make that clear.
“In light of this ruling, doctors are now on notice that all abortions, except those necessary to save a woman’s life, are illegal,” the ruling stated. The justices noted that criminal sanctions might be applied and additional regulations for abortions performed beyond 15 weeks of pregnancy.
The law provides for sentences of between two and five years in prison for those guilty. Attorneys for Planned Parenthood Arizona indicated they believe criminal sanctions will apply only to doctors.
The high court indicated that the application of the rule will not begin for at least two weeks. However, the plaintiffs say it might take up to two months, based on an agreement reached in a related case, to delay application of the law if judges uphold the old rule.
The decision puts abortion access in the spotlight ahead of state electoral battles for the November presidential elections and for partisan control of the United States Senate.
Democrats immediately criticized the ruling, blaming former President Donald Trump for the loss of abortion access following the Supreme Court ended nationwide protections.
President Joe Biden and his allies are emphasizing efforts to restore abortion rights, while Trump has avoided backing a national veto and warned that the issue might lead to losses for Republicans. The decision will give Arizona the strictest anti-abortion law among the battleground states.
Kari Lake, a firm ally of Trump and opponent of abortion, will face Ruben Gallego, a Democratic legislator in the House of Representatives, in the race for the seat held in the federal Senate by Kyrsten Sinema, who is not seeking re-election for a second term. mandate.
In the face of a near-total ban, the number of abortions in Arizona is expected to drop sharply from the roughly 1,100 performed each month, according to estimates from a Planned Parenthood Society survey.
Last summer, abortion rights advocates began a campaign asking the state’s voters to create a constitutional right to abortion. If proponents get enough signatures, Arizona will become the last state to directly put the issue of reproductive rights before voters.
The proposed constitutional amendment would guarantee the right to abortion until the fetus can survive outside the womb, typically around 24 weeks of gestation. It would also allow the pregnancy to be terminated later to save the mother’s life or protect her physical or mental health.
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Lee reported from Santa Fe, New Mexico.
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