A judge ruled late on Friday that the 1901 ban on abortion in Arizona, with the only exception being to save the life of the mother, is once again the law in the state after the Dobbs decision overturned Roe v. Wade.

Yes, the left is screaming about it.

In ruling that Arizona’s near-total ban on abortion could take effect, Pima County Superior Court Judge Kellie Johnson granted a request by the state’s Republican attorney general to lift a court injunction that had barred enforcement of Arizona’s pre-statehood ban on abortion after the Supreme Court ruled in Roe v. Wade in 1973.”

The judge’s ruling effectively outlaws all abortions in Arizona except when the procedure is necessary to save the mother’s life. The decision came a day before a 15-week ban on abortion was slated to go into effect in Arizona. That law was passed by Arizona lawmakers before the US Supreme Court decision.”

Conservative Arizona lawmakers included language in the bill banning abortion after 15 weeks stating that the new legislation would not override the 1901 law — which was passed before Arizona became a state and can be traced back to as early as 1864. In addition to barring abortion in all cases except when “it is necessary to save (the mother’s) life,” the pre-statehood law carries a prison sentence of two to five years for abortion providers.”

While fighting the attorney general’s move to allow the 1901 abortion ban to be enforced, abortion rights groups had argued that if both laws were to go into effect, it would create significant confusion for both abortion providers and women seeking care. But the judge said in her ruling that she was not weighing in on how the conflict between Arizona’s abortion laws would be settled.”

“While there may be legal questions the parties seek to resolve regarding Arizona statutes on abortion, those questions are not for this Court to decide here,” Johnson wrote in the decision.”

Shorter judge: I don’t make the laws, I just determine if they’re in effect. And good for Judge Johnson for not creating legislation in this case.

The 15 week abortion ban was passed back in March, patterned after the Mississippi law that eventually gave us the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization case. However, when the 15 week ban was passed and signed, the Dobbs case was still pending. The 1901 law, which had been suspended due to Roe v. Wade, was never repealed, and the 15 week abortion ban law made sure that it stayed in place, just in case.

Here again, we see the long game that the pro-life movement has successfully played in legal terms. Democrats were so confident and arrogant about Roe never being overturned, that they never bothered to repeal older laws that banned abortions within the states themselves. And after all, why would they worry? For generations, the court had slanted hard to the left. Again, this is why the 2016 election and the Trump presidency was so crucial. Three Supreme Court justice confirmations and 50 years later, Roe v. Wade is gone and the states now have the right to set their own abortion laws. So, why did Democrats in Arizona never attempt to codify abortion at the state level, especially when they knew this 1901 law was still on the books? The only possible answer can be the hubris of the left. They really thought they would never lose the Supreme Court to originalists. I bet the Democrats never even considered the 15 week ban to be even moderately reasonable, even when it was passed by the Arizona legislature and signed into law. They should be kicking themselves now, because if they had insisted that the 15 week ban override the 1901 law, they wouldn’t be in this position.

And yes, the Democrat candidates are well and truly freaking out. Here is Democrat gubernatorial candidate Katie Hobbs:

Like many Arizonans, I'm mourning today's decision out of Pima County upholding the 1901 abortion ban. This outcome is the product of a decades-long attack on reproductive freedom, and we now must turn our anger into motivation to win in November & restore our fundamental rights. pic.twitter.com/9cHY2zhNFI

— Katie Hobbs (@katiehobbs) September 23, 2022

Hobbs talks a big game on Twitter, but has completely chickened out when it comes to actually debating her opponent, Republican Kari Lake. Currently, Lake holds a slim lead over Hobbs and the race is considered a toss-up.

The other big race in Arizona is the Senate seat currently held by Mark Kelly. He has a bigger lead over his opponent, Blake Masters, but the race is still considered a toss-up. And of course, Kelly, who has obediently voted with Biden and the Democrats, is also proclaiming his loyalty to abortion.

Repealing Roe v. Wade set Arizona women’s rights back decades. This decision sets them back 158 years, to before Arizona was even a state. I won’t stop until we restore abortion rights so my granddaughter can have the same freedoms my grandmother did. https://t.co/EZM4V9lxTJ

— Senator Mark Kelly (@SenMarkKelly) September 24, 2022

Now, the media is eagerly chatting up how the reinstatement of the 1901 law could be a “game-changer” for Arizona – because they NEED it to be one.

The ruling comes amid an election season in which Democrats have seized on abortion rights as a potent issue. Sen. Mark Kelly, under a challenge from Republican Blake Masters, said it “will have a devastating impact on the freedom Arizona women have had for decades” to choose an abortion. Democrat Katie Hobbs, who is running for governor, called it the product of a decadeslong attack on reproductive freedom by Republicans that can only be fended off by voters in November.”

And yes, there will be voters who are motivated by abortion laws. And then there are the rest of us, who are watching the inflation numbers rise and our wallets shrink every time we go grocery shopping. Democrats need abortion to be a “game-changer” issue for them because they don’t HAVE anything else to run on. Funny enough, when I went looking up news coverage regarding SB 1164, the 15 week ban, there isn’t a mention of the 1901 law. It’s as if the Democrats and the media (but I repeat myself) had even forgotten that law existed. Given how SB 1164 was written, the Republican majority definitely had not. Again, this all comes down to Democrat arrogance.

But never fear, Joe Biden is here! And he promises that he can legalize abortion IF he can just get two more Senate seats!

If you give me two more Democratic senators, and Democrats keep the House, I promise you we will codify Roe v. Wade.

We will once again make Roe the law of the land.

We will once again protect a woman’s right to choose.

— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) September 23, 2022

First, there’s a whole lot more toss-up elections for Democrats in the House than there is for Republicans, and the current Democrat House majority is slim. Second, the Senate is really anyone’s guess at this point. And third, the Supreme Court JUST overturned a federal abortion ruling and gave the power back to the states. There’s a very strong possibility that they could rule similarly regarding a federal abortion law – since the “right” to an abortion is not in the Constitution, it is a state issue under the Tenth Amendment.

The only question now is, what do the voters of Arizona think about it? Is this 1901 law just too much for the average citizen of Arizona to take? I guess we will be finding out in short order. And a word to the pro-life crowd – we won the legal battle. It’s time to do the work on the interpersonal level now. It’s not enough to just make a law – we need to work harder on promoting a culture of life, not disposability and death.

Featured image via Pixabay, cropped, Pixabay license