(Photo via Office of Attorney General Kris Mayes, by Jennifer Stewart)
By Ryan Grenoble | Huffington Post
Shortly after the Arizona Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that a 150-year-old law criminalizing abortion in the state could be reinstated, the state attorney general pledged not to enforce it.
Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes minced no words in a statement that denounced the “unconscionable” ruling as “an affront to freedom.”
“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,” Mayes said.
She added: “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.”
Should the law nevertheless be enacted after its current 14-day stay, it would be among the strictest in the country, banning the procedure in all cases except to save the mother’s life.
Anyone who helps facilitate an abortion would also face a felony charge, punishable by a two-to-five-year prison sentence.
Arizona's Attorney General has responded to today's state Supreme Court ruling on abortion: https://t.co/snGf1X2KDq pic.twitter.com/FMS3Wi0V0L
— azfamily 3TV CBS 5 (@azfamily) April 9, 2024
