Arizona Senate Bill 1164 (2022), or SB 1164, prohibited abortions after fifteen weeks of pregnancy except when necessary to protect the life or health of the mother. The Arizona Senate and the Arizona House of Representatives passed SB 1164, and then-governor Douglas Ducey signed the bill into law on 30 March 2022. The passage of SB 1164 reinforced the state’s ability to regulate abortions following the US Supreme Court decision Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization (2022) decision, hereafter Dobbs, which overturned the federal law Roe v. Wade (1973), hereafter Roe. Roe had established abortion as a constitutional and federal right and prohibited states from banning abortions before fetal viability. Roe defined fetal viability as the point when the fetus has a chance of surviving outside the womb without extreme medical help. Dobbs returned the regulatory rights to the states. Arizona’s SB 1164 has helped shape the legal framework concerning reproductive rights in the state by prohibiting abortions after fifteen weeks and replaced Arizona’s previous 1864 law titled Arizona Revised Statutes 13-3603, or ARS 13-3603.
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