| US President Joe Biden has condemned a decision by Arizona’s Supreme Court to uphold an 1864 ban on nearly all abortions as “cruel” and “extreme,” pouncing on an issue that could dominate the 2024 election in key battleground states.
“This ruling is a result of the extreme agenda of Republican elected officials who are committed to ripping away women’s freedom.” “This issue should be decided by Arizonans, not legislated from the bench,” said legislator David Schweikert, an Arizona Republican who previously praised the 2022 overturning of Roe v Wade, which had protected the right of women to have abortions for nearly a half century.
“If past is prologue, this is going to have a deep and lasting impact on politics in Arizona,” Ms Mayes said.Voters have consistently backed abortion rights when the question is put directly to them, including in conservative states such as Kansas and Kentucky.Of the other major expected battlegrounds in the Biden-Trump rematch in November, Georgia outlaws abortions after about six weeks, while Nevada, Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania all allow abortions up to 20 weeks or later.