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Post-Roe, states struggle with conflicting abortion bans

Thousands of protesters march around the Arizona Capitol in protest after the Supreme Court decision to overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade abortion decision Friday, June 24, 2022, in Phoenix. The U.S. Supreme Court ruling overturning Roe v. Wade has legal advocates, prosecutors and residents of red states facing a legal morass created by decades of often conflicting anti-abortion legislation. In Arizona, Republicans are fighting among themselves over whether a 121-year-old anti-abortion law that precedes statehood should be enforced over a 2022 version.
Ross D. Franklin
/
AP Photo
Thousands of protesters march around the Arizona Capitol in protest after the Supreme Court decision to overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade abortion decision Friday, June 24, 2022, in Phoenix. The U.S. Supreme Court ruling overturning Roe v. Wade has legal advocates, prosecutors and residents of red states facing a legal morass created by decades of often conflicting anti-abortion legislation. In Arizona, Republicans are fighting among themselves over whether a 121-year-old anti-abortion law that precedes statehood should be enforced over a 2022 version.

Decades of anti-abortion laws have been created in some states, and many of them conflict with each other.

Idaho has nearly three dozen anti-abortion laws dating back to 1973, and Attorney General Lawrence Wasden's office says he is giving them all a close look to see which might be enforceable now that the U.S. Supreme Court has overturned Roe v. Wade.

But it's not an easy question — in Arizona, leaders in the Republican Party disagree over whether an abortion law from 1901 should be enforced over a 2022 version.

Grant Loebs is the president of the Idaho Prosecuting Attorneys Association.

He says decision on whether to charge someone under an older abortion law will probably come down to individual prosecutors at first.