This article was written by Kate Anderson and published in the Daily Caller.
The Arizona Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that a law from 1864 banning nearly all abortions can take effect in a landmark decision.
The law makes abortions illegal and punishable by a felony charge of up to five years in prison for anyone who either performs the procedures or helps procure one, with a limited exception to save the life of the mother. Planned Parenthood challenged the law in court, but state Supreme Court justices ordered in a 4-2 decision that the law be allowed to take effect.
“We conclude that [the law] does not create a right to, or otherwise provide independent statutory authority for, an abortion that repeals or restricts [the law], but rather is predicated entirely on the existence of a federal constitutional right to an abortion since disclaimed by Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization,” the opinion reads. “Absent the federal constitutional abortion right, and because [the law] does not independently authorize abortion, there is no provision in federal or state law prohibiting [the law’s] operation.”
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