CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (CBS19 NEWS) -- After the Arizona Supreme Court decided to reinstate a ban on nearly all abortions, a University of Virginia law professor explained the history of abortion law in Virginia.

“It’s highly unlikely that something like that could happen in Virginia,” said Dr. Naomi Cahn.

In Arizona’s case, this law was on the books from 1864 and that was the last law in place until the U.S. Supreme Court issued its opinion on Roe v Wade in 1973. 

“There had been court challenges to it. It was put on hold as a result of those court challenges but it had never officially been repealed by the Arizona legislature,” said Cahn.

On the other hand, she says Virginia’s laws on abortion have gone through a number of changes.

Cahn explains that after the U.S. Supreme Court issued the 1973 opinion on Roe v. Wade, Virginia followed that ruling.

“A few years later, Virginia updated its abortion statutes to be in compliance with what the Supreme Court had held in Roe v. Wade. So we do not have a similar pre-Roe v. Wade law that could come back into effect. Arizona is one of the few states that has such a law on the books,” she said.

The most updated law on abortion in Virginia is from 2020, which Cahn says was intended to expand access to abortions in Virginia. 

Just this year, the Virginia House of Delegates shot down a law that would have been a near-total ban on abortions. 

In April, Governor Glenn Youngkin vetoed a bill that would have protected health care providers who offer abortion services to patients traveling from outside the state. 

“In order for there to be a new abortion law, it has to pass the legislature and the Governor would have to sign it,” said Cahn.