In 1864…

The all-Republican Arizona state Supreme Court decided in a 4-2 vote that a law from 1864 which bans abortion unless the mother’s life is in danger is in full effect. They gleefully proclaimed, “[P]hysicians are now on notice that all abortions, except those necessary to save a woman’s life, are illegal.”

Here are some things I learned today that put this 1864 law into perspective for me.

In 1864

• A single man wrote the law that is about to be enforced in AZ
• AZ wasn’t even a state yet, it was a territory that would become a state many years later (1912)
• The Emancipation Proclamation had been announced only one year prior
• There were no cars, tv, radio, electricity, penicillin, birth control, anesthesia, space travel, or computers
• Women couldn’t vote
• Minorities couldn’t vote
• Doctors used horsehair for stitching wounds
• Doctors stored their instruments unwashed in velvet lined cases
• The 1864 criminal code’s reference to “miscarriage” was written within the context of male misbehavior
• The code focuses at length on dueling
• The law addresses poisoning (which is the part of the law being resurrected)
• The law also addresses cutting out tongues or eyes, slitting noses or lips, and rendering useless someone’s arms or legs
• Another law of the day made sure that “no black or mulatto, or Indian, Mongolian, or Asiatic, shall be permitted to [testify in court] against any white person”
• Another law of the day made sure that “all marriages between a white person and a [Black person], shall…be absolutely void”
• Another law of the day made sure that the age of female consent for sexual intercourse was ten years old

I learned something else that put this 1864 law into perspective for me: it’s 2024. There are cars, tv, radio, electricity, penicillin, birth control, anesthesia, space travel, and computers. And best of all?

In 2024

• Women can vote

May they turn out in droves, may their rights be protected, and may their voices be heard ringing loud and clear from sea to shining sea.