Arizona reinstates near-total abortion ban from 1864. Women must now fight for our lives.

Correction & clarification: A prior version of this column misstated when Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey signed the state’s 15-week abortion ban.

Arizona’s Supreme Court just reinstated the near-total abortion ban, turning back the clock on women to the territorial era.

Tuesday’s ruling is deeply troubling and utterly predictable since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, giving states the power to decide the future of reproductive rights.

It’s what Donald Trump and his allies wanted when as president he picked ultra-conservative justices for the high court. They promised not to touch Roe during their confirmation hearings, only to gut it once they got the job.

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With the fight moving to states, Arizona is now stuck with an 1864 law that prohibits nearly all abortions except to save the life of the mother. It punishes doctors with mandatory prison sentences of two to five years.

Arizona's abortion law is no coincidence

Stripping women of the constitutional right they’ve enjoyed nationwide for more than a half-century has medical and political consequences.

Voters in November must enshrine that right in the state’s constitution – not for political revenge, but for literal survival and for the freedom to make a personal choice on whether to end a pregnancy or not.

Nothing happens in a vacuum or suddenly. This ruling is a direct result of years of coordinated and carefully crafted campaigns to end reproductive rights and freedoms.

It’s no coincidence that just months before Roe was gutted, then-Republican Gov. Doug Ducey signed the state’s 15-week abortion ban.

Republican-led states had anticipated the end of Roe v. Wade and were ready with legislation to ban abortion. Since then, 14 states have made it illegal with various degree of penalties.

Abortion remains legal in states like California, Minnesota, New York, Oregon and Washington.

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Women can vote now. And abortion access is on the ballot.

The kind of hodgepodge abortion access isn’t by coincidence. It’s by design. That was the intent all along.

In Arizona, the fight now is at the ballot box – as it must be.

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Reproductive rights advocates have said that they have already collected enough signatures to put the issue before voters in November.

That initiative would allow abortion up to 24 weeks of gestation. After that timeframe or what is referred to as viability, exceptions would be allowed if a doctor deems the procedure necessary to “protect the life or physical or mental health of the pregnant individual.”

Arizonans must decide whether they want a law crafted during the Civil War era or live in the 21st century, when women are equipped with the right to vote and the right to decide for themselves.

Elvia Díaz is the editorial page editor for The Arizona Republic and azcentral, where this column first published. Reach her at elvia.diaz@arizonarepublic.com. Follow her on X, formerly Twitter, @elviadiaz1. 

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Arizona's near-total abortion ban shows women must fight for our lives