On Tuesday, April 9, 2024, the Arizona Supreme Court upheld an 1864 law that bans abortions except to save the life of the mother. There is no exception for rape or incest. Physicians will risk criminal prosecution for helping a woman get an abortion in Arizona possibly starting as soon as May. Even if the Attorney General of Arizona (Kris Mayes (D)), says she will not enforce this law, county states attorneys could still indict violators.
This zombie law was on the books in Arizona since before women had the vote, before Lincoln’s second term as president, and before Arizona was even a state. When this law was passed, the population of Arizona was 6,482. Today it is 7.359 million. Millions of women living in the state of Arizona will be affected by a law that has no place in America today.
The voters of Arizona will rebel against this law. Only 7 percent of Arizona voters said they supported an outright abortion ban with no exceptions. (NYT) Abortion bans are not just about abortion. This is about a woman’s reproductive medical care, the right to have control over her own body and make decisions about her life. Government should not get in the way of a woman’s ability to get the medical care she needs to be healthy and safe or force her to have a child when she is not ready to do so.
TRUMP AND THE GOP ARE TO BLAME
It is hard to understand how the Republican Party, a party that claims it wants the government to stay out of their lives and give them freedom and independence, can get behind laws that force women to give birth against their will. Full stop. Forcing women to have unwanted children and go through pregnancy, which can be physically and psychologically treacherous, and requiring they do this against their will, is not safe or fair or reasonable. Women and the men who love them understand this. This Arizona zombie law is way too extreme.
But this is where the GOP is today.
It looks like abortion is the hill Trump and the GOP have decided to die on. Of course we see many of them suddenly backpedaling to say they didn’t say what they did say about banning abortion. I’m looking at you, Kari Lake. But she is not alone in her current protestations that contradict her former total anti-abortion positions. You guys are on record. You have been filmed! Above all, you cannot be trusted.
Even if Republicans say they will not pass a national abortion ban, there is a way they can get one. Read to the end of this post to understand how that could happen.
TRUMP CANNOT BE TRUSTED
TRUMP’S ABORTION REALITY — For decades, DONALD TRUMP’s stance on abortion has been a moving target.
- In 1999, on NBC’s Meet the Press: “I am very pro-choice. I hate the concept of abortion,” he said. “I just believe in choice.”
- In 2011, while considering a White House run, he told CPAC that he was pro-life.
- In 2016, while running for president, he told MSNBC’s Chris Matthews that there should be “some form of punishment” for the women who get abortions.
- In 2018, he vowed to overturn Roe v. Wade and advocated for a 20-week national abortion ban.
Since Roe was overturned in 2022 — a decision made possible only after Trump appointed three justices to the Supreme Court — he has oscillated between taking credit for the new state of abortion rights, public concern that the party’s stance was a political loser, and private support for a nationwide 16-week ban.
Mostly, he has worked hard to not give a direct answer on where he stood.
[Then] in a four-minute video, Trump took a stance … sort of. He said he wasn’t in favor of a national abortion ban; endorsed a state-by-state approach to abortion law; called for exceptions for rape, incest and the life of the mother; and praised himself for appointing the conservative SCOTUS majority that overturned Roe. (Politico Playbook)
No sooner did Trump say he endorsed the idea of leaving the abortion issue up to the states then the Arizona Supreme Court decision to revive their harsh zombie law from 1864 was announced. No surprise. This is exactly what happens when you leave this crucial decision up to the states to decide. You get crazy, messed up laws from one state and then another as they revive these zombie laws of yore that have been sitting on the books but were unenforceable as long as Roe was the law of the land. These zombie laws reflect the way people thought in the 1800s, not the year 2024.
Bans on all abortions with minimal exceptions are among the most unpopular ideas in America, and it’s no different in Arizona. In the 2022 exit polls, 62 percent of voters in the state backed making abortion legal and 35 percent wanted it to be illegal. Only 5 percent supported a ban on abortion in all cases. (Axios)
Canceling Roe and leaving this decision to the states was the goal of the far right in alliance with the Federalist Society. Trump was installed by right wing extremists to kill Roe by rigging the appointment of the last three justices on the Supreme Court. The Republicans accomplished what they set out to do. Trump has taken credit for doing this on more than one occasion. But Americans don’t want this reversion to ancient times. Our way of living and thinking has changed with the changing times.
The dog caught the car. But I think the car is going to run over the dog in November.
WATCH OUT! THE COMSTOCK ACT IS ANOTHER UNSAFE ZOMBIE LAW
As late as 1960, the American legal system was not hospitable to the idea of birth control. Thirty states had statutes on the books prohibiting or restricting the sale and advertisement of contraception. These laws stretched back almost a century, reflecting an underlying American belief that contraception was lewd, immoral and promoted promiscuity.
Comstock’s Crusade
The driving force behind the original anti-birth control statutes was a New Yorker named Anthony Comstock. Born in rural Connecticut in 1844, Comstock served in the infantry during the Civil War, then moved to New York City and found work as a salesman. A devout Christian, he was appalled by what he saw in the city’s streets. It seemed to him that the town was teeming with prostitutes and pornography. In the late 1860s, Comstock began supplying the police with information for raids on sex trade merchants and came to prominence with his anti-obscenity crusade. Also offended by explicit advertisements for birth control devices, he soon identified the contraceptive industry as one of his targets. Comstock was certain that the availability of contraceptives alone promoted lust and lewdness.
Making Birth Control a Federal Crime
In 1872 Comstock set off for Washington with an anti-obscenity bill, including a ban on contraceptives, that he had drafted himself. On March 3, 1873, Congress passed the new law, later known as the Comstock Act. The statute defined contraceptives as obscene and illicit, making it a federal offense to disseminate birth control through the mail or across state lines. (PBS)
Just as the Arizona law sat dormant for decades, the Comstock Act has been dormant for decades too, but because it is still on the books, it could be revived. If Trump wins and Republicans gain control of Congress, the easiest way for the anti abortion forces to stop women from accessing abortion would be to reactivate the Comstock Act. That way the GOP could prevent mifeprestone (widely used today to induce early abortion) and birth control pills and other items of pregnancy prevention from being transported in the mail because, it will be claimed by the GOP, they fall within the definition of “obscene and illicit”. This is a very simple way for the Republicans and Trump to assert they will not sign a national abortion ban knowing that they have a ready made national abortion ban at the ready.
The Comstock Act could be revitalized without passing a national law banning abortion!!
If you hear Donald Trump or Republicans say they are against a national abortion ban remember that a de facto abortion ban could be put in place on day one simply by reviving the Comstock Act. Don’t be fooled. As long as the Comstock Act is on the books, a de facto abortion ban could be unleashed on America. Donald Trump would sign that into law no matter what he says on the campaign trail. Trump’s current desperate goal is to get elected to avoid going to jail. He will say anything to get elected. The Republicans will say anything if it could get Trump elected.
Bans on all abortions with minimal exceptions are among the most unpopular ideas in America, and it’s no different in Arizona. In the 2022 exit polls, 62 percent of voters in the state backed making abortion legal and 35 percent wanted it to be illegal. Only 5 percent supported a ban on abortion in all cases. (Axios)
What happened in Arizona tells Americans how out of touch this MAGA version of the GOP is. Trump and the MAGA GOP are part of an extreme minority party movement that wants to take over the United States. We can’t let that happen.
America! It’s time to abort Trump and the GOP!