What to know about the return of archaic abortion bills

Archaic pieces of legislation are coming back to life asthe fight over abortion access rages across thecountry ahead of November's elections.

When the Arizona Supreme Court ruled to ban nearlyall abortions in the state, it did so by upholding an1864 law - passed before Arizona was made a statethat made performing abortions a felony.

There are at least five other states that have similarso-called "zombie laws" on the books, which could beused to restrict or ban abortions entirely.

And anti-abortion groups have made the ComstockAct of 1873 a central part of their push to banmifepristone, a drug used for medical abortions, being sent through the mail.

These long-dormant laws were revived by the SupremeCourt's Dobbs decision in 2022, which overturned aconstitutional right to abortion that had stood for almost 50 years.

That ruling was the fruit of a decades-longconservative push to overturn Roe v. Wade, and wasmade possible after former President Trumpappointed three new justices to the court.

However, the zombie laws have become a politicalliability for Republicans, who are backing away fromhard-line abortion positions that are widely unpopular with voters.

According to the Guttmacher Institute, Alabama,Arkansas, Mississippi, Texas and West Virginia all havetotal or near-total abortion bans that were passedseveral generations ago. Four of these bans werepassed in the 1800s, and Texas's ban was passed in 1925.

All five of these states have banned all abortions withlimited exceptions since the Dobbs decision.