The Arizona Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that the state can enforce a long-dormant law criminalizing all abortions unless the mother’s life is threatened.

The case examined whether the state was still governed by laws that existed before Arizona became a state. The 1864 law made no exceptions for rape or incest, but allowed abortion if the mother’s life was in danger. The state high court’s ruling reviewed a 2022 ruling by a state appeals court that said doctors cannot be charged for performing surgeries in the first 15 weeks of pregnancy.

Shortly after the U.S. Supreme Court issued the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision guaranteeing the constitutional right to abortion, an earlier court decision blocked enforcement of the 1864 law. In June 2022, after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, then-state Attorney General Mark Brnovich, a Republican, persuaded a state judge in Tucson to cancel enforcement of the 1864 law obstacles.

Brnovich’s Democratic successor, Attorney General Kris Mayes, urged the state’s high court to side with the appeals court and suspend the 1864 law. Since the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 decision ending abortion rights nationwide, most Republican-controlled states have begun imposing new bans or restrictions, while most Democratic-controlled states have sought to protect abortion rights.

Currently, 14 states are banning abortion at all stages of pregnancy, with a few exceptions. Two states ban the procedure once heart activity is detected, which is about six weeks into pregnancy and often before a woman realizes she is pregnant.

Nearly every ban has been challenged by lawsuits. Courts have blocked enforcement of some restrictions, including bans during pregnancy in Utah and Wyoming.

A proposal pending in the Arizona Legislature to repeal the 1864 law has not yet received a committee hearing this year.

“Today’s decision to reimpose a law when Arizona was not a state, the Civil War was raging and women couldn’t even vote will go down in history as a stain on our state,” Meyers said Tuesday.

The judges said the state could begin enforcing the law within 14 days. Former Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey, who signed the state’s current law restricting abortions after 15 weeks, posted on X that Tuesday’s ruling was not the outcome he wanted.

“I signed this 15-week law as governor because it was a thoughtful policy and an approach that the people of Arizona could actually agree on to address this very sensitive issue,” he said.

President Joe Biden calls Arizona’s 1864 law cruel.

“Millions of Arizonans will soon live under more extreme and dangerous abortion bans that fail to protect women even when their health is at risk or they suffer tragedies of rape or incest,” he said in a statement. .” “Vice President Harris and I stand with the overwhelming majority of Americans who support a woman’s right to choose. We will continue to fight to protect reproductive rights and call on Congress to pass a law that reinstates Roe v. Wade protection of.”