Arizona 1864 archiac anti-abortion law was created during the Civil War before statehood

Echo essay published in the New York Magazine Intelligencer, by Sarah Jones: Not long after the Arizona Supreme Court ruled that an 1864, ban on abortion could be enforced by the state, Republican Senate candidate Kari Lake released a curious statement.  (Ms. ambiguous diva!), Lake opposed the ruling, she said, and if elected would vote for a spectrum of pro-family policies. 

1864 Arizona law outlawed abortion from the moment of conception, with an exception to save the woman's life. It made abortion a felony punishable by two to five years in prison for anyone who performed an abortion or helped a person obtain one. Arizona became a state on February 14, 1912.

Arizona's Supreme Court made Lake's candidacy difficult when it ruled that the 1864, ban on abortion could be enforced, further igniting an already smoldering political issue.

Not long after the Arizona Supreme Court ruled that an 1864, ban on abortion could be enforced by the state, Republican Senate candidate Kari Lake released a curious statement. She opposed the ruling, she said, and if elected would vote for a spectrum of pro-family policies. Baby bonuses are on her list. So is paid family leave and an extension of the Child Tax Credit, in addition to “investing in childcare,” whatever that means to Lake. “What we need to do is really start supporting women and giving them true choices,” she previously said in March, adding that Republicans “talk about being pro-family, and it’s about time we put the money where our mouth is.” It’s clear enough that she would like to be seen as a moderate in contrast with her current, conspiracy-addled image.

Kari Lake

Nevertheless, much like Donald Trump’s (I was for it before I was against it❓) abortion statement , Lake’s declaration is notable for what it leaves out. She would prefer we all forget that she once supported that 1864, archiac law, which could punish providers with prison time, if enforced. Nor does she explain exactly what shape her pro-family policies would take.

Lake performs a familiar dance. Anti-abortion conservatives railed against Roe v. Wade, but the ruling did them a favor, too. As long as it held, they could use it to rally the base. Now that it’s gone, candidates like Lake have no choice but to confront the deep unpopularity of their position among the broader public. 

Lake, like Trump, hopes to mollify voters by saying that abortion should be left up to the states. However, she can’t dodge abortion extremism. Republicans who say that states should decide abortion law bind themselves to whatever happens in those states. Moreover, Lake can’t paint over her prior positions with a pro-family veneer and hope that voters have short memories. The truth is too obvious to disguise.

The end of Roe forced abortion opponents into uncomfortable territory. For some, the only sensible recourse has been to promote policies that would, in their view, encourage family formation. (Republicans who claim to be pro-life are on the record for voting against family friendly social policies, like family leave.)

In 2023, the New York Times profiled several such thinkers, who have arrived at no consensus on how precisely to help families now that abortion is inaccessible in much of the country. “A full-spectrum family policy has to be about encouraging and supporting people in getting married and starting families,” said Oren Cass of the American Compass think tank. “It has to be pro-life, but also supportive of those families as they are trying to raise kids in an economic environment where that has become a lot harder to do.” Some conservatives have proposed sending families monthly cash for each child, though the Times said they debate the role work requirements might play, and their policies are generally not as expansive as those proposed in the Build Back Better bill.

Modest help for families is better than no help at all, but there are few reasons to think that such conservatives are the vanguard of a friendlier movement. “The end of Roe will require a new type of politics,” Patrick Brown, a fellow at the conservative Ethics and Public Policy Center, wrote in an editorial for the Times. 

But, Brown and his allies haven’t come up with anything new. Beneath all the hype, the conservative pro-family vision is still a violent one. It demands forced pregnancy and birth from women. Abortion opponents all deny women the basic freedom to make a family when or if they choose, or to control what form their family takes. Moreover, even with medical exceptions in place, bans make it difficult — often impossible — for women to seek the care they need, which can put their reproductive plans in serious jeopardy. Abortion restrictions aren’t pro-woman, and that means they aren’t pro-family, either.

Consider the specific case of Ascension, a large chain of Catholic hospitals. “Historically, the Catholic hospitals have had a better reputation, mostly because of their mission,” Jean Ross, a co-president of National Nurses United, told Religion News Service this week. But the union found that Ascension has closed “labor and delivery departments at a higher rate than the national average from 2012 to 2021,” and “to date has shuttered more than 26% of its units that existed in 2012.” Most of the closures occurred in low-income areas and in Black and Latino communities, RNS added. The probable reason? Profitability, though Ascension officials dispute this. The church teaches a consistent ethic of life, but pregnant women are learning that pro-family can mean nothing in practice.

Lake, of course, is no thinker, or true believer in anything except herself, with the exception of Trump. She is a reactive creature, and she belongs entirely to the fringe, whatever she says now. 

In fact, during Lake's failed campaign for Arizona governor, she thanked an evil Nazi 卐 sympathizer for his support and appeared with figures linked to the QAnon conspiracy theory, CNN reported at the time. What does it mean for the pro-family cause if someone like this considers herself to be an adherent- (when what she has said in the past is different than what she says today.....)? Under scrutiny, pro-family conservatives are extremists, too. They can be trusted with nothing. There’s only hot air and more danger for women.