Arizona’s Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday that a near-total ban on abortions tied to a Civil War-era law in the state is enforceable. Under that 1864 law, anyone who performs an abortion or helps a woman obtain one can be charged with a felony. The one exception to the prohibition is if an abortion is needed to save a woman’s life. It’s a horrifying ruling, and all the more striking because Arizona is a purple state, not a bastion of deep social conservatism. The retrograde law dates back to... Read this story
