A ruling on Tuesday by Arizona’s highest court upholding an 1864 law that bans nearly all abortions set up a fierce political fight over the issue that is likely to dominate the presidential election and a pivotal Senate race in a crucial battleground state.
Nowhere are the politics of abortion more distilled than in Arizona, where liberal advocates have been pushing for a ballot measure in November that would enshrine abortion rights in the State Constitution. The law will not be enforced immediately: The court put its ruling on hold, sending the matter back to a lower court to hear additional arguments about the legislation’s constitutionality.
But the ruling may prompt clinics in the state to stop performing the procedure before the election, to avoid the possibility that their doctors could face criminal penalties. If reinstated, the law would pre-empt the state’s current restriction on abortion after 15 weeks with a total ban outlawing the procedure from the moment of conception, except when necessary to save the life of the mother. The 1864 law contains no exceptions for rape or incest. Doctors prosecuted under the law could face fines and prison terms of two to five years.
Democrats jumped on the news, seizing an opportunity to place an issue that has powered them to repeated victories at the center of the 2024 contests. “This ruling is a result of the extreme agenda of Republican elected officials who are committed to ripping away women’s freedom,” President Biden said in a statement minutes after the decision. Vice President Kamala Harris was also set to travel on Friday to Tucson, Ariz., to talk about the importance of abortion rights.
Marjorie Dannenfelser, the president of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, a prominent anti-abortion group, praised the ruling as an “enormous victory for unborn children and their mothers,” saying her movement “must continue to fight.”
On Monday, former President Donald J. Trump said that abortion restrictions should be decided by the states and their voters, part of an effort to defang what many Republicans believe has become a toxic issue for their party.
Both candidates in Arizona’s Senate race, which is seen as one of the most important contests for control of the chamber, quickly disavowed the ruling. Representative Ruben Gallego, the Democratic candidate, called it “devastating for Arizona women and their families” and warned that “women could die” as a result of the new ban.
Kari Lake, his Republican opponent, echoed his comments.
“It is abundantly clear that the pre-statehood law is out of step with Arizonans,” she said in a statement. “I wholeheartedly agree with President Trump — this is a very personal issue that should be determined by each individual state and her people.”
Still, the Arizona ruling underscored the political limitations of Mr. Trump’s efforts. In his remarks, he supported exceptions for rape, incest and life of the mother, but he did not offer an opinion on whether state bans that do not include those caveats — like the one in Arizona — should stand.
Mr. Trump offered no immediate response to the ruling.