unsaveSave
expand-left
full screen Protests for and against abortion rights outside the US Supreme Court in March. Archive image. Photo: Amanda Andrade-Rhoades/AP/TT
The Supreme Court of the US state of Arizona gives its approval to a controversial abortion law from 1864. The old law allows abortion only in cases where the health of the mother is in danger. The penalty for breaking the law is between two and five years in prison.
The law was invalidated in the historic decision of the Supreme Court ruling in the case “Roe v. Wade” in 1973, which protected the woman’s right to decide for herself about abortion. But that ruling was overturned by the Supreme Court in the summer of 2022, and several states have since tightened their abortion laws.
But Arizona is among the states that wanted to go the furthest in the ban by referring to the legislation from the 19th century. The issue has been politicized in Arizona, and the law has been put on hold pending final legal rulings.
In an earlier ruling, an appeals court ruled that it would not be a crime to carry out abortions before the fifteenth week of pregnancy.
US President Joe Biden called the sentence “vicious” in a comment immediately after the verdict.