Arizona's AG seeks to reinstate 121-year-old abortion ban

July 14 (UPI) -- In the wake of the Supreme Court last month overturning Roe vs. Wade, Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich has asked a state court to reinstate a 121-year-old abortion ban that was put on hold by the landmark ruling.

The law in question was put in place in 1901, making it a crime punishable with imprisonment for between two and five years for providing, supplying or administering "medicine, drugs or substance, or uses or employs any instrument or other means whatever, with intent thereby to procure the miscarriage" of a pregnant person unless it is necessary to save their life.

The rule was the law of the state until it was blocked in 1973 when the Supreme Court made abortions legal with its landmark Roe vs. Wade ruling.

With last month's overturning of the rule by the conservative-leaning high court, Brnovich on Wednesday asked a Pima County judge in a 16-page filing to revive the old law as its halting "was based solely and expressly on decision the U.S. Supreme Court has now overruled."

"We believe this is the best and most accurate state of the law," Brnovich said in a statement. "We know this is an important issue to so many Arizonans, and our hope is that the court will provide clarity and uniformity for our state."

The American Civili Liberties Union of Arizona hit back at the move, stating it is incongruent with the desires of residents whose legislature has passed "dozens" of laws recognizing abortion as legal healthcare since then.

"Asking the courts to reinstate this cruel century-old ban is completely out of touch with the needs of people who can become pregnant and their families," Jennifer Allen, executive director for the ACLU of Arizona, said in a statement. "Forcing people to carry a pregnancy against their will has life-altering, even deadly, consequences."

Brianna Westbrook, a Democratic candidate for the Arizona House of Representatives, warned that if the law is put back in place it will be enforced by police who, when are given new powers to criminalize people, disproportionately target communities of color and low-income individuals.

"We must do everything in our power to protect the right of all people to make their own healthcare decisions," she said in a statement. "We must do everything in our ability to protect communities from police violence."

Brnovich filed the court document weeks after he signaled intention to revive the old law late last month

The filing comes as Republican-led states seek to ban abortions now that federal protections held by Roe vs. Wade are no longer. Many of those attempts have been met with litigation.

Earlier this week, a federal judge temporarily blocked an Arizona law that grants so-called personhood to fetuses, embryos and fertilized eggs on the grounds the legislation is unconstitutionally and "intolerably" vague.