Arizona is using a 121-year-old law — written more than a decade before it achieved statehood — to enforce a near-total abortion ban

A judge in Arizona on Friday ruled in favor of a 1901 law that would ban abortions in the state at almost all stages of a pregnant woman's life.

The injunction that had been in place since the Supreme Court's decision in the abortion case was lifted by a Pima County Superior Court judge.

The legal basis for the judgment entered in 1973, which was overruled by the court, must be thrown out.

A decade before Arizona became a state, the law banning abortion was enacted. The "Howell Code" states that anyone who provides abortion care, unless necessary to save the person's life, will be punished by imprisonment for not less than two years or more than five years.

The ruling will likely be appealed.

One day before the new law banning abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy took effect, the decision was made. Even in cases of rape or incest, a bill was signed into law by the governor.

The governor wrote a letter in March about the value of preborn life. Each state is responsible for protecting them.