XPost: alt.abortion, alt.politics.usa.republican, alt.fan.rush-limbaugh   
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   From: yourdime@outlook.com   
      
   The Arizona supreme court ruled Tuesday to let a law banning almost all   
   abortions in the state go into effect, a decision that could curtail   
   abortion access in the US south-west and could make Arizona one of the   
   biggest battlefields in the 2024 electoral fight over abortion rights.   
      
   The justices said Arizona could enforce a 1864 near-total abortion ban,   
   first passed before Arizona became a state, that went unenforced for   
   decades after the US supreme court legalized abortion nationwide in the   
   1973 decision Roe v Wade. However, the justices also ruled to hold off on   
   requiring the state to enforce the ban for 14 days, in order to allow   
   advocates to ask a lower court to pause it again.   
      
   White woman, long dark hair pulled back, black blazer, speaking   
   Pregnant Arizona lawmaker shares fight to get abortion, highlighting   
   ‘cruel’ laws   
   Read more   
   The ban can only be enforced “prospectively”, according to the 4-2 ruling.   
   Minutes after the ruling Kris Mayes, Arizona’s Democratic attorney   
   general, vowed not to prosecute any doctors or women under the 1864 ban.   
      
   “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 in a statement.   
      
   Voters may be able to weigh in on the issue in November: abortion rights   
   supporters in Arizona have spent months gathering signatures for a ballot   
   measure to enshrine abortion rights into the state constitution, and the   
   Tuesday decision raises the stakes for their efforts significantly. If it   
   succeeds, the ballot measure would declare that people in Arizona have a   
   “fundamental right to abortion” and that the state will not try to curb   
   that right before a pregnancy reaches fetal viability, which is generally   
   pegged to about 24 weeks of pregnancy.   
      
   Although ballot measures need to amass 383,923 signatures by July to get   
   on the ballot, the organizers behind the Arizona measure announced last   
   week that they have gathered more than 500,000 signatures, and plan to   
   collect more.   
      
   Arizona governor Katie Hobbs, a Democrat, said Tuesday was a “dark day”   
   for the state and implored abortion rights supporters to make their voices   
   heard in November.   
      
   Hobbs vowed to do everything in her power to preserve access to   
   reproductive care in the state. The governor last year issued a sweeping   
   executive order banning county attorneys from prosecuting women who seek   
   abortions and doctors who perform them.   
      
   Asked about the possibility that her directive could be challenged in   
   court following Tuesday’s ruling, Hobbs said: “Bring it on.”   
      
   While the long-term impact of the decision on abortion access in Arizona   
   is not yet clear, a number of providers said Tuesday that they will stay   
   open as long as they can. Planned Parenthood Arizona, which operates   
   multiple locations in the state, intends to continue providing abortions   
   as long as the procedure is legal. Thanks to a court order in a separate   
   case, Planned Parenthood appears to be able to legally provide abortions   
   beyond the 14-day window and potentially as late as into May.   
      
   “Regardless of today’s decision, what I can tell you is that our doors   
   will remain open,” Angela Florez, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood   
   Arizona, told reporters on a call after the supreme court decision. “We   
   will continue to provide what essential healthcare we can within the   
   limitations of the law, and we hope that supporters will continue to   
   support and that patients will still continue to feel safe in our care.”   
      
   Dr Gabrielle Goodrick, a longtime abortion provider in Phoenix, also told   
   the Guardian that her clinic will continue offering abortions, at least   
   through the 14-day window.   
      
   “We are not closing. Ever. That’s not a question,” Goodrick said. “I have   
   reassurances from the governor and the attorney general that they’re not   
   going to prosecute, but I need to investigate that further.”   
      
   The ruling became a campaign issue almost as soon as it was issued. Kamala   
   Harris quickly laid the blame on Donald Trump, whose three supreme court   
   appointees voted to overturn Roe, paving the way for state-level abortion   
   bans. The revived ban is “a reality because of Donald Trump, who brags   
   about being ‘proudly the person responsible’ for overturning Roe v Wade,   
   and made it possible for states to enforce cruel bans”, she said in a   
   statement. Harris also warned of nationwide restrictions to reproductive   
   care that could come with a second Trump presidency.   
      
   The vice-president will visit Arizona on Friday for a trip that was   
   planned before Tuesday’s decision.   
      
   Democrat Ruben Gallego, who is running against Republican and stalwart   
   Trump supporter Kari Lake to represent Arizona in the US Senate, condemned   
   the law in a statement.   
      
   “Our fight against extremist bans like the one enacted today has never   
   been more important – which is why I’m committed to doing whatever it   
   takes to protect abortion rights at the federal level,” Gallego said.   
      
   Arizona is one of roughly a dozen states where voters may get a chance to   
   vote directly on abortion rights come November. However, as a key   
   battleground state in the presidential election, the stakes in Arizona are   
   particularly high, since Democrats hope that outrage over Roe’s   
   overturning will also propel their candidates –including Joe Biden – to   
   victory.   
      
   The Tuesday decision is likely to galvanize voters. Several states have   
   held abortion-related ballot measures since Roe fell, and in every state –   
   including Republican strongholds like Kansas and Kentucky – abortion   
   rights supporters have triumphed.   
      
   In a statement, Lake said that she opposed the Tuesday ruling. Lake has   
   previously called abortion “the ultimate sin”, but like many other   
   Republicans in the wake of Roe’s demise and abortion rights supporters’   
   ballot box successes, has moved to moderate her position on abortion   
   policy.   
      
   “I am calling on Katie Hobbs and the statelegislature to come up with an   
   immediate common sense solution that Arizonans can support,” Lake said.   
   “Ultimately, Arizona voters will make the decision on the ballot come   
   November.”   
      
   Until the 1864 ban is enforced, abortion is accessible in Arizona up until   
   15 weeks of pregnancy. Under the 1864 ban, it is illegal to help “procure   
   the miscarriage” of a pregnant woman. The law only permits abortions to   
   save a woman’s life and does not have exceptions for rape or incest.   
      
   The impact of the ruling will reverberate beyond Arizona’s borders.   
   Goodrick told the Guardian last year that many of her patients come from   
   Texas, which has banned almost all abortions since even before Roe fell.   
      
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