An 1864 law that criminalized nearly all abortions in Arizona can take effect, the state’s top court said Tuesday.
A 2022 state law, which banned abortions after the 15th week of pregnancy, didn’t “create a right to, or otherwise provide independent statutory authority for, an abortion” or repeal or restrict the territorial law, Justice John R. Lopez IV said.
The 2022 law was predicated entirely on the right to abortion established by the US Supreme Court in 1973’s Roe v. Wade, Lopez said. But the top court’s reversal of that decision in June 2022’s Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health ...