Does the period during which theft is prohibited matter? What about murder?
Have the laws prohibiting these practices been in place for so long that they don’t deserve much respect?
of course not.
So why did President Joe Biden claim that the Arizona law banning abortion was “first enacted” 160 years ago when promoting his view that killing an unborn child should be legal? ?
Biden was reacting to the Arizona Supreme Court’s ruling that the state’s abortion law is enforceable because the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, which asserted the “right” to abortion.
“This cruel ban was first enacted in 1864, more than 150 years ago, before Arizona became a state and long before women secured the right to vote,” Biden said in a statement. . written statement.
“This ruling is the result of the extreme agenda of Republican elected officials dedicated to stripping women of their freedoms.”
Like Biden, establishment media organizations argued that Arizona’s law was enacted in 1864.
NBC News has been published story The headline reads, “Arizona Supreme Court rules near-total abortion ban from 1864 is enforceable.”
new york times online published The headline: “Arizona reinstates 160-year-old abortion ban.”
“The state Supreme Court said the law, which had been moribund for decades under Roe v. Wade, is now enforceable, but as lower courts hear other challenges to the law, “Sentence was reserved,” the Times reported.
The headline of an article published by CBS News said, “Arizona Supreme Court rules 1864 abortion ban can be enforced.”
But has this Arizona law been reviewed by the 1864 court?
As the court made clear in its opinion, the law it sought to reinstate was enacted in 1977, after Roe v. Wade, while its predecessor was enacted at that time.
“In 1864, the First Legislative Assembly promulgated the code governing the State of Arizona,” the Arizona Supreme Court stated. It “enacted Arizona’s first criminal law to include restrictions on abortion.”
So what happened to the 1864 law?
“In 1901, the 21st Legislative Assembly enacted a penal code that reiterated the abortion law, dividing the crime between those who promote abortion and women who seek assistance in obtaining an abortion,” the court said.
In 1912, Arizona became a state. So what happened to abortion?
“This language was fully adopted in 1913, after the creation of the state of Arizona,” the court said, referring to the 1901 law.
“In 1928, the Arizona Legislature codified abortion as a crime,” the court said.
“In 1971, the Family Planning Center of Tucson sued the Attorney General, challenging the constitutionality of Arizona’s abortion law under both the state and federal constitutions,” the court said. In the Tucson case Nelson v. Family Planning Center, “the trial court ruled that Arizona’s abortion law was unconstitutional,” but “the appellate court reversed the trial court’s decision and ruled that the abortion law was unconstitutional.” supported.”
However, in 1973, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Roe, and the Arizona Court of Appeals ruled that state’s abortion ban was “unconstitutional because of Roe.”
Has the Arizona Legislature reversed these court decisions before? no.
“To the contrary, four years after Roe v. Nelson, Congress recodified the law,” the Arizona Supreme Court said in a recent decision. [the abortion ban], maintaining the operative language of the statute. ”
This 1977 recodification of Arizona’s abortion ban, cited by the Arizona Supreme Court, states: “Unless it is necessary to save the woman’s life, using any means or means to cause a woman to miscarry is punishable by imprisonment for not less than two years and not more than five years.”
Why did Arizona legislators in 1977 take the same stance on abortion as their predecessors in 1864? Because their position was based on an unchanging principle as old as humanity itself.
The Ten Commandments say, “Thou shalt not kill.”
As previously noted in this column, Thomas cited “the laws of nature and the laws of nature’s God” in the Declaration of Independence and said that all human beings are endowed “by their Creator” with the right to life.・Jefferson, later Cicero, wrote: He is one of the inspirations for this declaration.
“[I]It was meant to represent the American spirit,” said Jefferson.
“All that authority, whether expressed in conversations, letters, printed essays, or in the elementary books on public rights by Aristotle, Cicero, Locke, Sidney, etc., It depends on your emotions.”
What did Cicero, a Roman senator who lived in the first century B.C., say in 1776 that was relevant to Americans?
“True law is right reason, consistent with nature, universal, immutable, and eternal, whose commands impose obligations upon us, and whose prohibitions bind us from evil. ” said Cicero.
“This law is not inconsistent with any other law and is not liable to be disregarded or repealed,” he said. “Neither the Senate nor the people can grant us any indulgence for not obeying this universal law of justice. We need no explainer or interpreter but our own conscience. It is not different. Today one thing will happen and tomorrow another thing will happen. But in all ages and nations this universal law must reign forever and be eternal and immortal. . It is the sovereign master and emperor of all beings.
“God himself is its author, promulgator, and executor,” said Cicero. “And those who disobey it flee from themselves and do violence to human nature itself.”
Laws prohibiting the killing of innocent humans are as legal today as they were thousands of years ago. This is because it is rooted in natural law, which has never and will never change.
Terrence P. Jeffrey is an investigative editor at the Daily Caller News Foundation.
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller News Foundation.
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