Arizona Revised Statutes 13-3603 (1864), or ARS 13-3603, was a territorial law enacted in 1864 before Arizona was granted statehood that banned abortion in any circumstances except when the mother’s life is at risk. The law remained in place even after Arizona was granted statehood in 1912 and reflected the nineteenth- and twentieth-century legal approach to abortion across the United States. However, the US Supreme Court Case Roe v. Wade (1973), hereafter Roe, overturned the statute by establishing a federal constitutional right to abortion, and made ARS 13-3603 unenforceable. The law has since been significant in legal discourse following the federal law Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization (2022), hereafter Dobbs, which overturned Roe and allowed state governments to re-enforce pre-existing abortion laws, including ARS 13-3603. By allowing states to reinstate pre-existing abortion restrictions, the Dobbs decision enabled the territorial law ARS 13-3603 to re-enter legal discussions after Dobbs.

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.

Sherri Chessen, also known as Sherri Finkbine, a television host who lived in Scottsdale, Arizona, during the 1960s, sought an abortion after learning that the sedative thalidomide caused fetal deformities. At the time, Arizona law only allowed abortions if the mother’s life was at risk. Chessen anonymously contacted The Arizona Republic, a local newspaper, and a reporter, Julian DeVries, told Chessen’s story in an article titled, “Pill May Cost Woman Her Baby.” Chessen’s identity later became public when the Good Samaritan Hospital in Phoenix, Arizona, where Chessen was to have the abortion, filed a suit to get the state’s approval to authorize the abortion. After her name became public, the hospital refused to perform the abortion, leading Chessen to travel to Sweden for the procedure. Chessen’s case led to widespread discussion about abortion access in the United States, brought the issue of reproductive rights into the national spotlight, and eventually influenced legal reforms, including the US Supreme Court’s decision in Roe v. Wade (1973).

The American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona, or ACLU of Arizona, is an organization that protects individual liberties through support for legislation, litigation of problematic laws, and public education. Tucson, Arizona, residents Alice Bendheim, Helen Mautner, and Cornelius Steelink established the ACLU of Arizona on 22 June 1959 in Phoenix, Arizona, and Tucson, Arizona. Among other activities, the ACLU of Arizona challenges restrictive abortion laws in Arizona through litigation, advocacy, and public education. The ACLU of Arizona is part of the national ACLU, which advocates for the rights of all people in the United States. Attorneys managed two chapters in Arizona in 1959, with the goals of influencing policy against systemic injustice and protecting the civil rights of all Arizonans. The ACLU of Arizona is one of the largest organizations that advocates against restrictive abortion laws through filing legal motions to safeguard abortion access and supporting initiatives like the Arizona for Abortion Access proposition, to ensure reproductive freedom and uphold the right to access abortion for people in Arizona.

Roberto Bachi researched statistics and demography at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in Jerusalem, Israel, and was the director of Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics from 1948 to 1971. The Central Bureau of Statistics was responsible for collecting, analyzing, and publishing demographic and economic data to inform government policy in the new state of Israel. In 1962, Prime Minister of Israel David Ben-Gurion established the first committee to address the Jewish birthrate, called the Committee for the Problems of Natality, and appointed Bachi to lead it. In that role, Bachi investigated population growth and demographic trends among Arab Palestinian citizens of Israel and among Jewish immigrant groups. His findings showed that while the overall Jewish birthrate was declining, Arab Palestinian fertility rates remained high, raising political concerns about maintaining a Jewish majority. Through his studies of the fertility of Jewish people in Israel and his comparative data on Jewish and Arab populations, Bachi helped to embed demographic concerns into Israeli national politics and Zionist policies.

The Law of Return is an Israeli federal law that grants Jewish people the right to immigrate to and gain citizenship in Israel. The Israeli Knesset, or parliament, headed by David Ben-Gurion, then the prime minister of Israel, enacted the Law of Return on 5 July 1950, two years after the establishment of the State of Israel in the wake of World War II and the Holocaust. The purpose of the Law of Return was to formalize Israel’s role as a homeland for Jewish people by providing a legal framework for immigration based on Jewish identity. Before the Law of Return, the British government had regulated, and sometimes strictly limited, Jewish immigration into Palestine, defined historically as the region of Southwest Asia along the eastern Mediterranean Sea, when the territory was under British control from 1920 to 1948, a period referred to as the British Mandate. By establishing that all Jews worldwide are eligible for immediate immigration to Israel, the Law of Return helps to define who has the natural right to become an Israeli citizen and become eligible for government benefits, including health care.

The Embryo Carrying Agreements (Agreement Approval and Status of the Newborn) Law, 5756-1996, hereafter Law 5756-1996, is a 1996 Israeli federal law regulating surrogacy and establishing legal parental status for children born through surrogacy. It requires that a government-appointed committee approve all surrogacy arrangements under the Israeli Ministry of Health and designates the intended parents as the legal guardians of the child born through a surrogacy arrangement. It outlines eligibility requirements for intended parents and surrogates and stipulates that physicians conduct all procedures in recognized Israeli medical facilities. The law contributed to Israel’s emergence as a global leader in assisted reproductive technologies such as in vitro fertilization, or IVF. Israel reported the highest rate of IVF treatments, per capita worldwide as of 2021, with approximately 61,000 IVF cycles performed that year. Law 5756-1996, which was one of the world’s first national legal frameworks for surrogacy, set conditions for surrogacy agreements in Israel and clarified the legal status of the resulting newborn.