When the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the legislative battles breaking out at our state Capitol and others across the country were inevitable.
In his majority opinion, Justice Samuel Alito promised as much.
“Our decision returns the issue of abortion to those legislative bodies,” he wrote, “and it allows women on both sides of the abortion issue to seek to affect the legislative process by influencing public opinion, lobbying legislators, voting, and running for office.”
Their decision didn’t ban abortion; rather, it let the people decide the issue. That’s how the Constitution was written. It’s how democracy is supposed to work.
And democracy is often a messy business.
Following Alito’s lead, the Arizona Supreme Court also passed the decision to the people and their elected representatives. They ruled that a dusty, old territorial law was still valid and would remain so unless the Legislature changed it.
Many........