An Arizona judge on Friday lifted a 1973 injunction placed on the state’s abortion statute, restoring a law that effectively bans the practice outright.
Pima County Superior Court Judge Kellie Johnson ruled that a judgment and injunction signed nearly 50 years ago against statute ARS 13-3603 “no longer has any prospective application” in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade.
Under the restored statute, it is now only legal to perform an abortion in Arizona if “it is necessary to save” the woman’s life. This statute goes back to around 1901 and was the law of the land until the Supreme Court legalized abortion nationwide in 1973….