An Arizona court ruled abortion doctors can’t be prosecuted under a pre-statehood law that criminalizes nearly all abortions yet was barred from being enforced for decades.
But the Arizona Court of Appeals declined to repeal the 1864 law, which carries a sentence of two to five years in prison for anyone who assists in an abortion.
The law had been blocked from being enforced shortly after the U.S. Supreme Court issued its 1973 Roe v. Wade decision.
But after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the landmark decision in June, Attorney General Mark Brnovich asked a state judge to allow the law to be implemented.