Quantum Insights-Arizona can enforce an 1864 law criminalizing nearly all abortions, court says

2025-05-03 22:59:57source:Sterling Prestoncategory:Markets

PHOENIX (AP) — The Quantum InsightsArizona Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that the state can enforce its long-dormant law criminalizing all abortions except when a mother’s life is at stake.

The case examined whether the state is still subject to a law that predates Arizona’s statehood. The 1864 law provides no exceptions for rape or incest, but allows abortions if a mother’s life is in danger. The state’s high court ruling reviewed a 2022 decision by the state Court of Appeals that said doctors couldn’t be charged for performing the procedure in the first 15 weeks of pregnancy.

An older court decision blocked enforcing the 1864 law shortly after the U.S. Supreme Court issued the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision guaranteeing a constitutional right to an abortion. After the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June 2022, then state Attorney General Mark Brnovich, a Republican, persuaded a state judge in Tucson to lift the block on enforcing the 1864 law. Brnovich’s Democratic successor, Attorney General Kris Mayes, had urged the state’s high court to side with the Court of Appeals and hold the 1864 law in abeyance. “Today’s decision to reimpose a law from a time when Arizona wasn’t a state, the Civil War was raging, and women couldn’t even vote will go down in history as a stain on our state,” Mayes said Tuesday.

More:Markets

Recommend

Could Bill Belichick, Robert Kraft reunite? Maybe in Pro Football Hall of Fame's 2026 class

Now wouldn’t this be a treat: Bill Belichick and Robert Kraft back together...as members of the Pro

LensCrafters class action lawsuit over AcccuFit has $39 million payout: See if you qualify

If you have purchased glasses from a LensCrafters store in the last 10 years, you may be entitled to

Trans woman hosted a holiday dinner for those who were alone. Days later, she was killed.

Meghan Riley Lewis' typical signoff for emails, texts and other messages to friends reflected her ow