Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford says he expects healthcare providers in the state to see an influx of women seeking abortion care after Wednesday's Arizona Supreme Court ruling.
"Arizonans dismayed by today's ruling should know this - if your needs bring you to Nevada, Nevada will protect you," said Ford in a statement on the NV Attorney General X page.
In his statement, Ford denounced the Arizona Supreme Court decision as an attack on the bodily autonomy of women.
He said women deserve to make decisions about their bodies and needs in exclusive consultation with their own doctors.
In their decision on Wednesday, the Arizona Supreme Court ruled that a 160-year-old abortion ban could be enforced. That law is effectively a near-total ban on abortions in the state.
The 1864 ban, which was enacted before Arizona became a state, has exceptions to save the life of the mother but none in cases of rape or incest. It will supersede a 15-week ban passed in 2022.
According to the 1864 law anyone who aids in an abortion, unless it is done to save a woman's life, would be subject to between two and five years in prison.
Arizona's Attorney General Kris Mayes, a Democrat, vowed that as long as they remained in office no woman or doctor would be prosecuted under the law.
Some prominent Arizona Republicans are speaking out against the ruling as well.
"I signed the 15-week law as Governor because it is thoughtful conservative policy, and an approach to this very sensitive issue that Arizonans can actually agree on. The ruling today is not the outcome I would have preferred, and I call on our elected leaders to heed the will of the people and address this issue with a policy that is workable and reflective of our electorate," Doug Ducey, Arizona's former Republican governor, posted on X.
Republican Senate candidate Kari Lake also issued a statement opposing the ruling, and she called on Arizona's Democratic Governor Katie Hobbs and the state legislature "to come up with an immediate common-sense solution that Arizonans can support."
