The PBS NewsHour led its Tuesday evening newscast with the week’s big issue: abortion, an issue of such apparent import (and perceived advantage to the Democratic Party in November) that both anchors took a biased crack at it before the segment itself.

Co-anchor Geoff Bennett: Arizona will soon be the latest state with a near-total abortion ban after the state's Supreme Court revived a 160-year-old law. The law provides no exceptions for rape or incest. And, in its 4-2 opinion, the conservative majority wrote -- quote -- "Physicians are now on notice that all abortions, except those necessary to save a woman's life, are illegal."

Co-anchor Amna Nawaz: Doctors who perform abortions could face criminal prosecution and prison time, though the Democratic attorney general says she will not prosecute. It's the latest test of the limits on abortion since the Supreme Court ended federal abortion protections from the decades-old Roe v. Wade decision….

After a soundbite from Arizona’s Democratic Governor Katie Hobbs saying the “abortion ban is extreme and hurts women,” Bennett introduced journalist Carter Sherman, who writes from the United States for the left-wing UK paper The Guardian about (ahem) “reproductive health.”

The outlet in question -- and that euphemism for abortion -- were two hints that what’s about to unfold won't hew to PBS’s congressional mandate for "strict adherence to objectivity and balance in all programs or series of programs of a controversial nature.”

Bennett: What's the expected impact on women's health care in Arizona and in the surrounding region?

Sherman: Arizona has been a critical release valve for places like Texas, which have a total abortion ban on the books right now. So, if we ban abortion totally, or almost totally, in Arizona, there's going to be plenty of people throughout the Southwest who previously might have fled to Arizona for abortions who will now have to travel even farther out. Abortion rights supporters also say that this could have massive impacts on things like maternal mortality. So there's going to be really wide-ranging effects, really across the region in a variety of health areas.

They pivoted to the political repercussions. The takeaway: Good for Democrats.

Carter Sherman: I think that this decision today is going to make Arizona one of the biggest battlefields, particularly in abortion, but also in the presidential race, also in the Senate race, in the 2024 elections. What we're looking at here is a potentially very galvanized population outraged by the overturning of Roe, outraged by a near-total abortion ban, and those people might decide to go to the polls en masse and vote not just for abortion rights, but also for Democrats….

Sherman, who previously wrote for the former left-wing outlet Vice, appeared on the NewsHour last month to disdain pro-life “crisis pregnancy centers” where women sometimes walked out of with their fetuses intact.

This pro-abortion segment was brought to you in part by American Cruise Lines.

A transcript is available, click “Expand.”

PBS NewsHour

April 9, 2024

7:03:19 p.m. (ET)

Geoff Bennett: Arizona will soon be the latest state with a near-total abortion ban after the state's Supreme Court revived a 160-year-old law. The law provides no exceptions for rape or incest.

And, in its 4-2 opinion, the conservative majority wrote — quote — "Physicians are now on notice that all abortions, except those necessary to save a woman's life, are illegal."

Amna Nawaz: Doctors who perform abortions could face criminal prosecution and prison time, though the Democratic attorney general says she will not prosecute.

It's the latest test of the limits on abortion since the Supreme Court ended federal abortion protections from the decades-old Roe v. Wade decision. And in this election year, there is already an effort under way to get a pro-abortion rights amendment on Arizona's ballot in November.

Arizona's Democratic Governor Katie Hobbs responded to today's court decision.

Gov. Katie Hobbs (D-AZ): Arizona's 2022 abortion ban is extreme and hurts women. And the near-total Civil War era ban that continues to hang over our heads only serves to create more chaos for women and doctors in our state. As governor, I promise I will do everything in my power to protect our reproductive freedoms.

Geoff Bennett: Carter Sherman covers reproductive health for The Guardian and joins me now.

Thanks so much for being with us.

Carter Sherman, The Guardian: Thank you for having me.

Geoff Bennett: So, the Arizona State Supreme Court lifted a stay on this 1864 law that was passed before Arizona was a state.

Help us understand how they arrived at this decision.

Carter Sherman: So this ban has been the source of court battles and chaos since the overturning of Roe almost two years ago.

What happened is, after a very long period of litigation, the Supreme Court of Arizona decided today that, since there is no more Roe v. Wade, there is no reason why this 1864 ban should not go into effect.

Now, what's unclear at this point is when exactly that ban will fully take effect and be enforceable, in the words of the court. Abortion providers and their supporters are at this time really trying to figure out what this decision means for all the people on the ground in Arizona.

Geoff Bennett: How is it that the Civil War era law supersedes the previous law that the legislature passed and the previous governor signed in 2022 that made abortion accessible up to 15 weeks?

Carter Sherman: When the U.S. Supreme Court legalized abortion nationwide in Roe v. Wade in 1973, that meant that there were several laws across the country that dated back decades that were no longer going to be in effect.

And many of these laws were never really, truly dealt with. They just went dormant. And so, when the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe in 2022, suddenly, all of these states, including Arizona, had to deal with these so-called zombie laws that they had not ever really fully reckoned with.

Arizona had also in 2022 passed a separate 15-week abortion ban. But what happened was that 15-week abortion ban and this near-total abortion ban from 1864 just sort of coexisted, and they weren't really harmonized in any kind of way.

In this case, in particular, Planned Parenthood has argued that these laws needed to be harmonized, and that's why that the 15-week ban should be allowed to stand over the 1864 ban. That's not the argument that the Arizona Supreme Court accepted today.

Geoff Bennett: Well, in the meantime, Arizona's attorney general, Kris Mayes, says she will not prosecute any doctor who performs abortion procedures. Mayes says that this is a collective effort with the state's governor.

How is that being received by county prosecutors, who could potentially use their own discretion?

Carter Sherman: I think that there are many, many questions about what it really means for an official like Mayes to say that she will try to hold off on any kind of prosecutions of abortion providers.

The providers that I have talked to and I have heard from don't necessarily feel like they are totally in the clear at this point, and they are confused about what it means moving forward if they were to provide abortions.

Geoff Bennett: What's the expected impact on women's health care in Arizona and in the surrounding region?

Carter Sherman: Arizona has been a critical release valve for places like Texas, which have a total abortion ban on the books right now.

So, if we ban abortion totally, or almost totally, in Arizona, there's going to be plenty of people throughout the Southwest who previously might have fled to Arizona for abortions who will now have to travel even farther out. Abortion rights supporters also say that this could have massive impacts on things like maternal mortality.

So there's going to be really wide-ranging effects really across the region in a variety of health areas.

Geoff Bennett: And there's also the political impact.

Arizona, as you well know, is among a handful of key battleground states. An effort is already under way right now to put a measure on the 2024 ballot that would enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution. How might this affect not just the presidential election, but that key Senate race, that hotly contested Senate race in Arizona?

Carter Sherman: I think that this decision today is going to make Arizona one of the biggest battlefields, particularly in abortion, but also in the presidential race, also in the Senate race, in the 2024 elections.

What we're looking at here is a potentially very galvanized population outraged by the overturning of Roe, outraged by a near-total abortion ban, and those people might decide to go to the polls en masse and vote not just for abortion rights, but also for Democrats.

There's actually been, since the decision came out today, many Republicans in the state saying: This was a bad idea. I don't support this decision.

And some of them had said that they will work to try to figure out a way back to this 15-week abortion limit and not a near-total abortion ban. I have covered this issue for many years. I have covered it long before Roe was overturned. And I have never really seen this sort of immediate 180 from Republicans in this way on this issue.

Geoff Bennett: That is Carter Sherman with The Guardian.

Thanks so much for sharing your reporting and your insights with us.

Carter Sherman: Thank you for having me.