Revival of Civil War law on abortion extreme, says Biden
ARIZONA’S highest court has revived a 160-year-old law banning all abortions unless a mother’s life is at risk and punishing doctors who perform the procedure with prison sentences.
The ruling could be a major boost for Democrats in a key battleground state in this year’s general election, with polls showing reproductive rights to be a galvanising issue for many voters.
Joe Biden reacted to the ruling in Arizona yesterday, calling it “extreme and dangerous”.
The US president has cast his White House opponent Donald Trump and his Republican backers in Congress as out of touch with the public mood.
“This ruling is a result of the extreme agenda of Republican elected officials who are committed to ripping away women’s freedom,” he said.
It comes a day after Mr Trump said the question of abortion access should be left to each state to determine.
Arizona, which Mr Biden narrowly carried in 2020, is critical to Democrats’ hopes of retaining the White House and control of the US senate, with one of its two seats on the ballot in November.
The decision by the state’s conservative Supreme Court justices upholds an 1864 law which prohibits abortions from the moment of conception, including in cases involving rape or incest. Anyone who administers a termination could face fines and a jail term of two to five years if prosecuted under the law.
The only exception to the near-total ban is in cases threatening the life of the mother. Critics say the territorial law predates Arizona achieving statehood, the end of the American Civil War or women securing the right to vote.
The Arizona court’s 4-2 decision overrides existing legislation signed into law by the state’s former Republican governor allowing abortions until 15 weeks into a pregnancy.
The ruling could have far-reaching consequences in Arizona, likely making it the 16th US state to effectively ban terminations since the overturning of Roe v Wade, the landmark 1973 case enshrining women’s constitutional right to an abortion.
However, the Arizona court said its ruling cannot be enforced for 14 days, allowing for a lower court to hear additional arguments about the law’s constitutionality. Democrats in Arizona are pushing to include a vote on implementing a constitutional right to abortion on the ballot in the state in November’s presidential election.
Reproductive rights are a winning issue for the party, with voters in Wisconsin, Kansas and Michigan all voting to adopt abortion rights protections.