Arizona AG Decries ‘Draconian’ and ‘Unconscionable’ Near-Total Abortion Ban After Court Reinstates 1864 Law

Arizona’s Supreme Court upheld a 123-year-old penal code provision that bans nearly all abortions except to save the life of the mother. After the ruling, the state’s attorney general Kris Mayes vowed not to prosecute abortion providers and called the law, which can trace its origin as far back as 1864, “draconian.”

Before Tuesday’s ruling, Arizona was operating with a 15-week abortion ban, but the old law makes even that limit illegal and makes no exceptions for rape or incest. It also mandates a two- to five-year prison sentence for abortion providers. There is a two-week stay on the ruling before it can go into effect, but the state’s leaders are already speaking out against it.

Mayes, a Democrat, said in a statement that “no woman or doctor will be prosecuted under this draconian law in this state.” She also said, “The decision made by the Arizona Supreme Court today is unconscionable and an affront to freedom. Make no mistake, by effectively striking down a law passed this century and replacing it with one from 160 years ago, the Court has risked the health and lives of Arizonans.”

Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs (D) also spoke after the ruling:

It is a dark day in Arizona. Just now, the Arizona Supreme Court issued its opinion in Planned Parenthood v. Mayes, upholding one of the most extreme abortion bans in the country. And while it is currently stayed, we continue to live under an unacceptable ban, a law that still strips Arizonans of their personal autonomy and has no exceptions for women who are the victims of rape or incest, or any regard for pregnancy complications.

President Joe Biden, who harshly criticized former President Donald Trump’s abortion statement on Monday, also responded to the Arizona ruling saying: “Millions of Arizonans will soon live under an even more extreme and dangerous abortion ban, which fails to protect women even when their health is at risk or in tragic cases of rape or incest.”

Watch the video above via CNN.