The Civil War raged and fortune-seekers hunted for gold. This era produced Arizona’s abortion ban
By CHRISTINE FERNANDO
Associated Press
The near-total abortion ban resurrected last week by the Arizona Supreme Court dates to 1864, a time when gold-seekers were moving in, dueling had to be regulated and settlers were increasingly encroaching on tribal lands. The ban was written before Arizona even became a state, created by a New York judge who had been appointed by then-President Abraham Lincoln to write the territory’s legal code. The law’s revival is just the latest instance of long-dormant restrictions influencing current abortion policies after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, which once granted a federal right to abortion.
