Up till 1930, all Christian denominations rejected use of birth control. Today the Catholic church is the only church that still rejects use of contraception and divorce. The church predicted exactly what would happen with the use of contraception and here we are today. Divorce, remarriage, abortion, homosexuality mainstream and now transgenderism. What next?
Are you suggesting the chruch influenced the 1864 law in the territory of Arizona?
[As referenced earlier in this thread]
Section 38 offers another assessment of pregnancy.
“If any woman shall endeavor, privately, either by herself or the procurement of others, to conceal the death of any issue of her body, male or female, which, if born alive, would be a bastard, so that it may not come to light, whether it shall have been murdered or not,” it reads, “every such mother being convicted thereof shall suffer imprisonment in the county jail for a term not exceeding one year.”
In other words, i
f you were to become pregnant out of wedlock and have a miscarriage — and then conceal it — you could go to jail for a year. If you disagreed with this rule, of course, you had little recourse. Only “white male citizens” of the United States or Mexico who’d lived in the territory for six months were allowed to vote.
In Section 47, the Howell Code addresses rape, which is defined as “the carnal knowledge of a female, forcibly and against her will.” It also specifies penalties for having “
carnal knowledge of any female child under the age of ten years, either with or without her consent.” To put a fine point on it, the “consent” at issue there is purportedly coming from a 9-year-old.