For Abortion Advocates, Now Is Not the Time for Retreat
In the wake of Arizona’s resurrection of a 19th-century law banning abortion, it’s clear that the post-Roe right will go to great lengths to limit reproduction freedom. The abortion rights movement will have to mount a campaign of equal magnitude.
Arizona for Abortion Access, the ballot initiative to enshrine abortion rights in the Arizona State Constitution, holds a protest condemning Arizona House Republicans and the 1864 abortion ban on April 17, 2024. in Phoenix, Arizona. (Rebecca Noble / Getty Images)
Zombie laws from the nineteenth century are rising from the crypt.
In early April, the Arizona Supreme Court resuscitated a Civil War–era state law that bans nearly all abortions. The seemingly dead law from 1864 is enforceable once again, putting legal abortion care out of reach for the 1.6 million people of reproductive age in the state.
Arizona’s ban says anyone who “provides, supplies or administers” an abortion or abortion drugs will face a state prison sentence of two to five years unless the abortion is necessary to save the life of the person who is pregnant. There is exception for rape or incest.
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