The Arizona Supreme Court issued a shocking ruling last week that revived a moribund state law from 1864 that banned abortions unless necessary to save the life of the mother. That statute, which carries up to five years in prison for violations by both doctors and patients, is now the law of the land in Arizona.

Especially stunning is that the court simultaneously invalidated a 2022 law that protected abortion access in Arizona until 15 weeks of pregnancy (or earlier in the event of a medical emergency).

Yet the 4-2 Arizona Supreme Court majority can hardly be blamed for picking the old law over the new one — it was merely following the directives laid out by the U.S. Supreme Court. The manner in which Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization killed Roe v. Wade means that, when it comes to abortion, the law — along with the tens of millions of American women and girls who are capable of becoming pregnant — will continue to be hijacked back to a time where women had few, if any, meaningful rights.

The irony here is twofold. The first is that the Texas law originally struck down in Roe banned abortions except to save the life of the mother. What Roe deemed unconstitutional is now the law again, this time in Arizona.

The second irony is that the Dobbs majority, in an opinion authored by Justice Samuel Alito, specifically ruled that “we … return the power” over how abortion may be regulated by the states “to the people........

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