(NewsNation) — Arizona joined a growing number of states that have effectively banned abortions after the state’s supreme court upheld a law passed in 1864 that outlaws nearly all forms of the procedure.
The 160-year-old policy “is now enforceable” after Arizona justices handed down a 4-2 decision on Tuesday. However, the court placed a 14-day hold on enforcing the new law, which returned to a lower court for further arguments to consider additional constitutional challenges that have not yet been cleared up.
Justices John R. Lopez IV, Clint Bolick, James P. Beene, and Kathryn H. King ruled in favor of the measure while Chief Justice Robert M. Brutinel and Vice Chief Justice Ann A. Scott Timmer were the dissenting votes.
Under the original law, anyone found to be assisting with an abortion faced 2-5 years in prison except in cases where the abortion was performed to save the life of the mother. The law was originally passed before Arizona became a state in 1912.
However, some state officials have already challenged the court’s ruling.
“Let me be completely clear, as long as I am Attorney General, no woman or doctor will be prosecuted under this draconian law in this state,” Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes said in a statement issued on Tuesday.
Mayes characterized the court’s decision as being “unconscionable” and “an affront to freedom.”
Justices said in its decision that after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, eliminating the federal right to abortion, no law prevented Arizona from upholding the Civil War-era law.
Under the law, abortion from the moment of conception was considered illegal except in cases where the mother’s life was in jeopardy. The law also made no exceptions for rape or incest. Another law passed in the same era declared that any woman seeking an abortion could face up to one year in prison.
That law was repealed in 2021.
In 2023, Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs issued an executive order that gave the state’s attorney general the authority to enforce abortion laws.
The four justices who ruled in favor of the law ruled that a law passed in 2022 that prohibited abortions after 15 weeks did not repeal the 1864 law or create a right to abortion. According to the Arizona Republic, justices ruled the 2022 law was enacted by state lawmakers because the prior law was enjoined in court.
In addition to the 14-day stay ordered on Tuesday, there is a 45-day delay before the law can be enforced, the New York Times reported. Once enacted, the law could force abortion clinics across the state to close, which would force women seeking abortions to travel to California, New Mexico or Colorado to have the procedure done.
