Does it matter how long theft has been prohibited? What about murder?
Do laws prohibiting these acts deserve less respect because they have stood for so long?
Of course not.
So, why did President Joe Biden -- in promoting his view that killing an unborn child should be legal -- insist on pointing out that an Arizona law that prohibits abortion was "first enacted" 160 years ago?
Biden was responding to an Arizona Supreme Court decision, which held that Arizona's abortion law would be enforceable now that the Supreme Court has overruled Roe v. Wade, which had claimed a "right" to abortion.
"This cruel ban was first enacted in 1864 -- more than 150 years ago, before Arizona was even a state and well before women had secured the right to vote," Biden said in a written statement.
"This ruling is a result of the extreme agenda of Republican elected officials who are committed to ripping away women's freedom," he said.
Like Biden, establishment media organizations also claimed Arizona's law was enacted in 1864.
NBC News posted a story with this headline: "Arizona Supreme Court rules a near-total abortion ban from 1864 is enforceable."
The online New York Times published this headline: "Arizona Reinstates 160-Year-Old Abortion Ban."
"The state's highest court said the law, moribund for decades under Roe v. Wade, was not enforceable, but it put its decision on hold for a lower court to hear other challenges to the law," said the Times.
"Arizona Supreme Court rules........