airtasker essay writing

Airtasker Review: Is it Legit? (Full Details + Rating)

Airtasker Rating

Are you tired of scrolling through countless gig-economy sites, unsure of which platform to join to earn extra money? Airtasker is one of the platforms that claim to offer small gig jobs in your local area.

But is Airtasker legit and really a way to earn? This Airtasker review will give you the answer to that question and many more.

It will give you an inside look and show you the full details and my opinion so you know exactly what to expect from it before you sign up. Then you can make an educated decision on whether or not this is the right opportunity for you.

So let’s get this review started, shall we?

The earning opportunity – Tasks

What is airtasker, and what does it offer.

Airtasker is a gig-economy site that will let you find small jobs in your area to earn extra cash. It is indeed a legit site since you can really earn from the jobs you work on. However, this doesn’t automatically mean it is worth your time.

To find out if you should join, you must first understand how it works. And the best way to do that is to examine the earning opportunity it offers, so you will know how much time and effort is required of you to earn from it.

The video below explains exactly how it works. You can also read the full details below the video.

Recommended: Check Out the Best Gig Jobs

The only way to earn from Airtasker is to work on tasks (hence the name of the site). Once you register as a tasker, the first step to earning is to complete your profile. You’ll have to provide all your basic information including your billing address.

Once you’ve done this, you can log in to the member dashboard or the app (more about the app later) and look for tasks you can work on. The tasks that you can view once you log in are those that are closest to you (refer to the photo below).

Just pick a task you want to work on and click it to see the full details of the task. On the details page, you’ll see how much the client is willing to pay for the tasks, the requirements to complete them, as well as the deadline.

Once you are ready, just click the “Make an Offer” button and indicate the amount you will be willing to accept for completing the task. During this step, you have to figure out the right amount for the offer. If you go higher than the indicated amount on the details page, chances are, the client will not accept it and just look for somebody else willing to accept it at the amount indicated by the client.

If you also set your offer too low, you won’t be earning what you are supposed to, so you have to figure out the right balance to ensure your offer is the one the client accepts. After you make an offer and it is accepted, all you have to do is show up and do the task at the specified time.

Once you complete the task, you just have to wait for the client to approve it on Airtasker to receive your compensation. In the next section, I will discuss how you will get paid.

Most of the tasks offered on Airtasker will involve manual labor, so if this is not something you are prepaid to do, then Airtasker is not for you. The availability of tasks will also depend on your location, and based on my experience, larger cities offer more tasks than smaller ones.

How do you get paid?

The compensation for the tasks will be held in escrow by Airtasker. This is to ensure that both parties are satisfied before the compensation is released to you. Let’s say you finished a task; the client must indicate that the task is finished on Airtasker before Airtasker will release the compensation to you.

Once it is approved by the client, you will get paid via direct bank transfer and you can expect to receive it within 3 to 5 business days. You don’t need to reach a threshold to receive your earnings. Airtasker will deposit it to your bank account regardless of the amount you’ve earned.

Now, the one thing you need to keep in mind with the payment system of Airtasker is that there will be a service fee involved. Normally, the fee will be around 10% to 20% of the offer you made. The fee will depend on your tier rating as a tasker. You can read more about their service fee here .

Overall, the payment system of Airtasker is relatively straightforward and convenient. I like the fact that payments are held in escrow to ensure both parties are satisfied once the task has been completed.

If you are interested in more sites that offer a convenient payment system, I recommend you also check out the top sites that pay via direct bank transfer .

How much money can you make?

Based on my experience with gig economy sites like Airtasker, the amount you can earn will mostly depend on where you are located. This is because, as mentioned earlier, the availability of tasks will depend on the city you live in.

If you live in a big city, chances are there will be a lot of tasks available. If you live in a small town, more likely than not, there won’t be any tasks. This is the reality of gig-economy platforms like Airtasker, and there’s really nothing you can do about it.

As for how much you can earn per task, it will depend on how complicated the task is. If it takes a long time or a lot of effort to finish, you will generally be able to earn hundreds of dollars. But if it requires little effort, then you get paid much.

While I was testing Airtasker, I found some tasks that paid around $300 to $400, but they required a lot of work, so keep that in mind when looking for tasks on Airtasker. Overall, I would say the earning potential of this site will depend on your location.

If you live in a big city, you will be able to earn a decent amount from it. But if you live in a small town, you might find opportunities to earn.

Can you use it on mobile?

Airtasker has a mobile app you can download so that you can find tasks in your area conveniently using your mobile device. The app can be downloaded from both Android and iOS app stores.

It is also quite user-friendly, so you will not have a hard time using it. The app will show you all the tasks in your area, and you can set it to display tasks in a map or list mode. You will also not encounter any annoying pop-up ads while using it.

The overall user experience it offers is pretty good, in my opinion, which is all you can ask for from a mobile app like this.

Who can join Airtasker?

Airtasker is only available in certain countries. When you attempt to register as a tasker, you’ll be asked which region you are located in (refer to the photo below).

If you don’t live in any of the regions listed, then don’t even bother signing up because you will never find opportunities to earn. If you live in any of the regions listed, just continue with the registration. You can sign up using your Google, Apple, or Facebook account. You can also just provide your own login details.

After you’ve completed the registration process, you can log in to the member dashboard (or app). However, before you can start accepting tasks, you’ll have to complete your profile first. And once you complete your profile, I suggest you also go through with the KYC process of Airtasker so you won’t have any trouble withdrawing your earnings later.

Can you get support?

Airtasker has a Help page you can check out if you have any questions about your account or the site. It has a section for taskers where you can find useful information. But if you can’t find the answers you are looking for, you can just get in touch with their support team.

You can do so by clicking on the “Submit Request” link found at the bottom of every topic discussed on the Help page. You can also just click the message icon found at the lower right-hand corner of the Help page to talk to the support bot of Airtasker.

Overall, I would say Airtasker provides decent support to its members since it offers a couple of convenient ways for you to request assistance.

Final Verdict

Airtasker is a legit gig-economy site that will let you earn by completing tasks in your area. It has a couple of decent features, but it also has some limitations you need to consider.

Let me finish this review by summarizing its pros and cons to give you an overview of what it has to offer. Then you can decide if it is the right opportunity for you or not.

• No payout threshold
• Has a mobile app you can download

• Most tasks will require a lot of time and effort to complete
• Only offers one payment method (direct bank transfer)
• Has a relatively high service fee

In my opinion, Airtasker is a decent site to earn extra cash as long as you live in a big city. That’s because there are usually a lot of opportunities to earn in big cities. If you live in a small town, then you are better off finding other ways to earn, in my opinion.

If you decide to join, be prepared to allot a lot of time because most tasks are time-intensive and require a lot of effort to complete. But the good thing is that these tasks usually pay well.

But if you don’t have the time to do these tasks or you live in a small town, then I recommend you check out the top survey and GPT sites in your country instead. The sites and apps on this list also have good earning potential, so you will be able to earn a decent amount from them.

Plus, you will definitely find a site or app you can join regardless of where you live. You can also just earn without leaving the house.

If you have any comments, questions, or have any experiences with Airtasker yourself, I would love to hear from you in a comment below.

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Reviews 4.3.

8,439 total

Most relevant

I organised a house to house removal for furniture with a company that ripped me off. Basically I was conned. They made me pay, after they unloaded the first truck load. Then they drove off, leaving me in limbo, half a house of furniture not moved! 😡. I got on to Airtasker. Left a message with Benjamin at a removalist company on Airtasker. Immediately, he organised 3 guys, late on a Saturday afternoon to finish the job. AND, $50 under the price I quoted! Felipe, Riky and Julian were amazing! They were so friendly, extremely professional, and courteous. Nothing was any trouble at all. They even did a 2nd drop at another location. Finishing about 7.30 on a Saturday night was no problem for them. So for the the No 1 removalists, top notch in Professionalism,these guys are 2nd to none!! Thanks Airtasker.

Date of experience : April 06, 2024

Russell and his wife Sophia had good communication with me, a friendly, ironing hanger with a shirt, providing me a meal. The food was delicious. I was a bit nervous at first, but I learned to iron the shirt and was confident and soft.

Date of experience : April 10, 2024

Really easy to navigate and when I did…

Really easy to navigate and when I did have a question I could find the answer or someone was able to help me. Will definitely be making a list and using Airtasker for lots of additional jobs I have around my home. Thank you

Date of experience : April 08, 2024

Airtasker overall is a great platform....but

Airtasker overall is a great platform. I get plenty of work from there..however in order to keep it as a successful platform, the moderation team needs to do a lot better. Recently I've seen heaps of people getting away with putting up their business names, numbers, social media user names etc etc. All these things allow the customer to bypass the platform and go directly to the tasker. There needs to be a lot more effort put into this space if airtasker is grow and continue to be a success

Airtasker has changed a LOT since I…

Airtasker has changed a LOT since I first used it years ago. Extremely impressed that professional trades are now on here and the payment system is very fair and easy. Protects everyone. I’ll be using this site a lot more for every day annoying jobs. Highly recommend

Date of experience : April 04, 2024

Prompt and efficient.

Contacted Airtasker mid. Friday morning re my gas hot water heater and it was fixed by lunchtime by a pleasant easy-going tradie. What more could you want?

Date of experience : April 05, 2024

Great first experience with Airtasker

Great first experience with Airtasker. Process of setting up task and selecting right person for the job was so easy.

Date of experience : April 09, 2024

Positive experience

The website is user friendly and we were able to hire a gentleman who specialises in the work we needed undertaken.

Airtasker take out a very bigh fee and don't hold either the poster or tasker to any standards.

The site doesn't have standard questions to ensure the person posting the job provides adequate information so that the Airtasker can sufficiently assess if they are capable. The site leaves a lot of room for error on expectations and a lot of room for financial exploitation for people who need money. There seems to be an inadequate relationship between the task required and money offered for the job. In addition, the site takes an extremely high percentage from the fee offered, leaving the Airtasker with a less than desirable payment. The site takes 20% siting insurance and marketing costs but 20% from every job completed is a lot more than I'd consider reasonable. This site seems to leave a lot of room for dissatisfaction.

Airtasker first experience

First and foremost getting work and making money is hard and to experience through an app, takes the going to jobsites or advertising and the other measures you have to indulge in and sometimes that takes a lot of time when you should be working! And you guys are easy and simple to work with an your app especially because I’m not that phone savvy lol

Used Airtasker for the first time

Used Airtasker for the first time, really liked the seamless process, the task that I wanted done was achieved in under a week. Will definitely use the service going forward.

Date of experience : April 03, 2024

Easy posting of job required and very…

Easy posting of job required and very quick response from a number of interested parties. Job done, payment was quick and easy. Have used in the past and will continue to use again

Wasn't sure about Airtasker as I've heard of them before, but so happy I did contact them. Tom did a great job of putting together my flat pack furniture, Will be using Airtasker again in the future.

I wouldn’t risk your money.

I wouldn’t risk your money. You think paying through Airtasker gives you protection against a terrible result of the task you posted. It doesn’t because the person you accepted to do the task can refuse to let you cancel even though what they have produced is not what you asked for. Don’t bother, for a simple job it’s turned into a full time job getting my money back .* UPDATE* Reply : Airtasker is not helping me resolve anything. They are saying there’s nothing they can do, so the person continues to harass me to pay for something he couldn’t do in the first place when he accepted the job.

Reply from Airtasker

Hi Amanda, thanks for raising this concern and we are sorry to hear about your experience. There are times when a task doesn't go to plan and Posters and Taskers have different perspectives on the matter or when there is miscommunication between Posters and Taskers. Airtasker provides a free dispute service that can help both parties with negotiations and a potential resolution.  From your review, we can see that you have already reached out to our support team and they have also responded to your email. If you need further assistance on the matter, please respond to our support team via the email thread so they can further assist.

Great first time experience

Everything about it was good. The communication I had with Mohammed was great and easy the Airtasker system put me at ease and the job went very very well. I really happy and I’ll definitely use you again.

It is the airraske company need to improve.The job I willing to pay $120 but the next come up with the bill $1355 , and Airtaske deduct the money from my account one week before did the job.

The job I was willing to pay $120, but Airtaske bill me $135 from my account one week inadvance, even the job is not done yet ???I was so worry I thought my account has been hatches. I try to contact Airtaske company phone number from the website. The number was not contact able ???.It is not acceptable as a legitimate company.

Date of experience : April 07, 2024

Hi Phu, we strive to provide a seamless and user-friendly experience for our members and we're sorry to hear your experience hasn't been ideal.  Customers are charged a connection fee when they assign their task. This is a variable amount that ranges from $2.90 to $34.90. The breakdown of the task price, which includes the connection fee, is displayed when you accept a Tasker's offer. There are no obligations to accept an offer until you're 100% satisfied with the conditions.  These fees are used towards ensuring the smooth operation of our platform and in supporting features like secure payment systems, fraud protection, insurance, support services, and regular system updates.  While we don't offer phone support, we do have a dedicated Support team who's always keen to help via email. Please do not hesitate to reach out to our Support team at https://support.airtasker.com if you have concerns or need any assistance.  For more information about how payments work on Airtasker, please see:  https://support.airtasker.com/hc/en-au/articles/360031769372-What-is-the-Connection-fee  https://support.airtasker.com/hc/en-au/articles/115010433128-Why-was-my-card-charged-before-the-start-of-the-task

Shail Construction’s review

Airtasker is an extremely helpful platform to not only fill in voids with work flow, but assist in maintaining your company’s cash flow. We have found it relatively easy to navigate, and to get some honest leads.

Date of experience : April 02, 2024

Airtasker 30% in fees

Airtasker not only take a fee from the person fulfilling the task, but they also then charge the customer a fee as well. In total they make almost 30% on every job. As a first time user, you only find this out once you have gone through the hassle of vetting suppliers and then agree to a quote. At that point you find out the real total cost which is more than the quote price. I wouldn't use them again as the fees are disproportionally high.

Hi Rukshan, we understand your concern regarding the fees on Airtasker. The fees on Airtasker are of variable rate. For Taskers, the service fee for each task they offer can range from 10% to 20% of the task price and is calculated according to their current tier. For Posters, the fee starts from $2.90 and only higher-value activities have a charge of $34.90, which is the maximum. The fees on Airtasker are used to cover costs in running the operation of the platform and expansion. The fees are also used to cover the maintenance of secure payment systems, implementation of fraud protection measures, provision of insurance, and delivery of support services. Additionally, these fees enable us to enhance our technology aiming to provide a better experience to both Posters and Taskers. For more details, please check: https://support.airtasker.com/hc/en-au/articles/200294499-What-is-the-service-fee and https://support.airtasker.com/hc/en-au/articles/360031769372-What-is-the-Connection-fee

Prompt response and attendance, thoughtful problem solving...

Prompt initial response and attendance (on a public holiday too!) really helped me to advance the work required at a time convenient to me as I work full time and sometimes hard to coordinate. Matt listened to what I was looking for, and then took the initiative to approach the problem with consideration of the instability of the current fence (due soon for replacement). This meant the task took longer overall, but ensured a more satisfactory outcome for me by not risking complete failure of the fence as a result.

Date of experience : April 01, 2024

Give Airtasker a try.

I have had a great experience using Airtasker to post job with quick offers. The bidding system keeps the cost fair ms the ability to read through reviews allows me to select the best person for the job and have not been let down yet.

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Social Media Strategy for Airtasker

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Introduction

Given that Airtasker is an organization keen on ensuring the satisfaction of its clients when performing the wide variety of tasks often assigned to its members. Thus, the formulation of a social media strategy is crucial to establishing constant and efficient communication with customers. Two of the most popular social media platforms are Facebook and Instagram, and the exhibition on various content pieces on the platforms in question can significantly help improve the overall communication between Airtasker and its clients. The content pieces in question will include feedback from a client regarding their satisfaction with Airtasker, detailing of various experiences with Airtasker from different people, and precautionary measures taken by the company against COVID-19. Promotional material to encourage new users to sign up with the organization and an advertisement detailing why Airtasker is a useful service will also be part of the content pieces. The target audience for Airtasker is wide given that it includes both male and female genders, people aged between 22 and 62 years, employed and unemployed people, middle to higher income groups and urban and semi-urban locales. An assessment of the content pieces in question can help determine whether they help improve communication with Airtasker’s target audience.

Content Pieces

Content Piece 1

The first content piece to be highlighted is a photo posted on Airtasker’s Instagram page showing one of the organization’s employees, known as Rose, completing a task on her first day on the job. The caption accompanying the photo details Rose’s performance in relation to the task she had been assigned as well as an overview of the client’s opinion regarding the job done. Furthermore, the caption details that other than performing the duties assigned to her, Rose also struck up a friendship with her clients, which is a testament of the type of customer service on offer at Airtasker.

Posting such a content piece contributes to the strengthening of the relationship between the organization and its clients, while also displaying to prospective clients the quality of service provided by Airtasker. According to Australian Bureau of Statistics (2020), there are over 14.7 million internet users in Australia, which is why posting the content piece in question is a smart move given that a lot of individuals on Instagram are likely to see the post. Posting such content pieces is highly beneficial to Airtasker’s aim of improving communication with its clients since it helps paint the organization in a positive light, thus, increasing its appeal. Therefore, posting positive feedback from the company’s clients is an ideal move when it comes to improving communication with clients.

Content Piece 2

The second content piece is also a photo posted on Airtasker’s Instagram page. The image, figure 2, urges both clients who hire the services of the organization and those employed by the organization to conduct the tasks assigned to highlight their experiences with Airtasker. The photo also offers incentives in the form of coupons or a voucher aimed at encouraging more clients and workers to participate. It is imperative to note that a comment posted by an individual who as used Airtasker’s services is visible, and it details the client’s pleasure at the workers assigned to her for the completion of tasks. The use of Instagram for such marketing strategies is highly effective since the traffic generated from the photos posted is often very engaging (Millwood, 2016). The comment posted by the seemingly satisfied client is evidence of the sort of traffic in question since the customer shows a willingness to engage with the company even after her initial interaction with the organization. Therefore, Instagram has proven to be an effective platform when it comes to acquiring an engaging customer base.

Content Piece 3

The year 2020 has seen the planet ravaged by the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic that has resulted in everyone having to take additional precautionary measures to combat the disease. The third content piece, figure 3, showcases Airtasker’s commitment to fighting the coronavirus via a post of a face mask bearing the company’s logo, and an accompanying caption detailing that all their workers always wear masks when deployed for duties. The post, which is featured on the company’s Facebook page, offers assurances to the company’s clients that the organization is committed to doing everything in its power to contribute to the fight against C0VID-19 and its spread. According to Joseph (2016), an organization’s failure to maintain communication with its customers, especially during such trying times as those experienced in 2020, can give off the perception that the company has forgotten about them. Moreover, it is easy for the clients to think that the organization no longer cares about the business they provide. Therefore, it is crucial that a company offers its clients assurances on a regular basis.

Content Piece 4

The prevalence of social media has directly contributed to the widespread popularity of memes. Airtasker has acknowledged the importance that memes have developed on social media platforms, and the company has resulted in utilizing memes in their communication efforts with their clients. Figure 4 shows a meme depicting how the popularity of Airtasker has grown, with an increasingly massive number of people opting for the company’s services when it comes to handling household cleaning and package transportation services. By utilizing memes, the company is able to easily communicate with a large section of the current generation, given the popularity of memes among young adults.

Content Piece 5

The final content piece is a Facebook post offering a look at an example of the promotions that the company engages in an effort to increase its customer base. Figure 5 highlights the incentives on offer to existing and prospective customers aimed at drawing in new clients while at the same time retaining existing ones. According to Mack (2017), customers like it when they feel valued and not exploited, which is why offering incentives as a reward for using the company’s services helps improve customer satisfaction. When an organization is able to target the appropriate clients, it is able to improve its chances of effectively growing its overall customer base. In summary, an incentive program is something that every organization should invest in given since it increases customer satisfaction and retention.

Evaluation of Content Performance

The evaluation of content performance is an essential part of any social media strategy since it helps determine whether or not the strategies being implemented are fruitful or not. One of the most commonly used social media metrics when it comes to the evaluation of content performance is the total number of followers or likes that a post has managed to garner (Radice, 2019). Graphs highlighting the various changes in the number of followers are used as an indication of the progress that has been made. However, it is imperative to note that the evaluation of Likes and Followers alone does not offer a concrete assessment of how individual social media posts or accounts are performing. An evaluation of the impressions and reach of the posts are two additional metrics that should be considered when assessing the performance of a social media post. An assessment of the impressions and reach of the content in question is especially important if an organization’s objectives are centred on the brand’s perception and awareness (Chen, 2020). Lastly, there is the share of voice metric, which offers an indication of what percentage of the online community the company’s brand is participating in during a given period. Unless an organization is the only one in its field, it is next to impossible to maintain the largest share of voice, though it is possible to assess how it fairs over time. Therefore, an assessment of the social media metrics highlighted above can help an organization evaluate the performance of its posts.

There is no denying that social media has become an integral part of marketing in most fields, which is why so many organizations have adopted its use in their various endeavours. Airtasker has highlighted how effective a marketing tool that social media platforms can be as is evidenced by the various posts on Facebook and Instagram detailed above. The variety of content that the organization posts on its social media pages is a reflection of what the company stands for, which is why it is vital for clients to relate to the content in question. Communication with customers is crucial to ensuring the success of a business since customer acquisition and retention is depended upon how an organization interacts with its clients.

ABS.gov.au (2020a). Australia Statistics Internet, Retrieved September 01, 2020, from https://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/[email protected]/mf/8153.0/

Chen, J. (2020, August 17). The most important social media metrics to track. Sprout Social. https://sproutsocial.com/insights/social-media-metrics/.

Joseph, C. (2016, October 26). Importance of Communicating and Meeting Customer Requirements. Small Business – Chron.com. https://smallbusiness.chron.com/importance-communicating-meeting-customer-requirements-11774.html.

Mack, S. (2017, November 21). The Advantages of a Customer Incentive Program. Small Business – Chron.com. https://smallbusiness.chron.com/advantages-customer-incentive-program-65669.html.

Millwood, A. (2020, February 3). 5 Most Significant Instagram Benefits for Business Marketing. Yotpo. https://www.yotpo.com/blog/instagram-pics-better/.

Radice, R. (2019, January 7). How to Measure Your Social Media Performance. https://rebekahradice.com/measure-social-media-performance/.

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Arizona’s Zombie Abortion Ban Is Back. It’s Every State’s Future If Trump Wins.

On Tuesday, the Arizona Supreme Court ruled that its total abortion ban, a seemingly dead law dating back to 1864, is once again enforceable, despite more recent legislation that seemed to supercede it. The zombie ban makes virtually all abortions a felony, imposing a prison sentence of two to five years for any provider. There is no exception for rape or incest. The law was enacted before women could vote, and was long presumed to be permanently unenforceable. But the Arizona Supreme Court’s conservative majority, by a 4–2 margin, has now revived it. Republican governors appointed all seven justices on the bench, and the GOP recently expanded the court to entrench this far-right majority—which had no trouble finding that a ban enacted in an era in which women were chattel remains good law in 2024. As a result of this ruling, in 14 days almost every abortion in Arizona will be a crime, and nearly every clinic will close its doors. For all intents and purposes, it’s 1864 again for pregnant people in Arizona.

The decision should serve as a warning for the rest of the country, in light of ongoing efforts to revive the Comstock Act: In the hands of a far-right court, a dead, openly misogynistic, wildly unpopular abortion ban can spring back to life with a vengeance.

This zombie law was passed in 1864, long before Arizona was a state, and was codified in 1901, at which point it included a narrow exception to save the patient’s life. Much more recently, Arizona has passed less restrictive abortion laws, including a 15-week ban that appeared to wipe out more severe bans that preceded it. In late 2022, after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the Arizona Court of Appeals ruled that the two conflicting abortion laws in the state had to be reconciled, or “harmonized.” It maintained that abortion would remain legal through 15 weeks when provided by licensed physicians in compliance with the state’s other laws.

But on Tuesday, the Arizona Supreme Court, tasked with finally “harmonizing” Arizona’s 15-week abortion ban with the total ban dating back to hoop skirts, ruled that in the aftermath of Roe ’s reversal in Dobbs, the total ban takes precedence: The more recent 15-week restriction, wrote the majority, “does not create a right to, or otherwise provide independent statutory authority for, an abortion that repeals or restricts” the 1864 law, “but rather is predicated entirely on the existence of a federal constitutional right to an abortion since disclaimed” by Dobbs. In other words, in “harmonizing” the two laws, the harsher one wins out—even though, as the dissenters noted, the Legislature seemed to override this absolute ban when passing the recent 15-week limit. And so, starting in two weeks, even rape victims at the earliest stage of pregnancy may not obtain a legal abortion in Arizona.

Since Dobbs, nearly two dozen states have banned or limited access to the procedure. Arizona now joins those states with almost no exceptions , according to the Guttmacher Institute. As was the case with the far-right Florida Supreme Court’s interpretation of that state’s constitution last week , the majority simply ignored any evidence that the original meaning and text of the recent law provided greater protections for reproductive freedom. Instead, the majority rejected the Legislature’s evident intent to supplant the Civil War–era law with a more lenient ban. As a consolation, it gestured toward the fact that Arizona voters will likely have an opportunity to enact a ballot initiative restoring reproductive rights. So Arizona now joins Florida as a state in which the high court takes away reproductive freedom with one hand while allowing it to go to a popular vote with the other. Abortion-rights groups say they have enough signatures to put the abortion amendment on the November ballot, creating a fundamental right to receive abortion care until viability. Unlike Florida, where amendments need 60 percent approval to pass, Arizona allows amendments to take effect with simple majority support. (Note, as well, that two justices in the majority on Tuesday have retention elections in November; if ousted, Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs can replace them with progressives.)

In an election year in which winning the state of Arizona is an absolutely essential factor for the GOP, the abortion dog continues to catch the electoral car in ways that can only hurt Donald Trump and the GOP extremists who seek to harm women’s health and equality. So long as voters are aware of the game as it’s being played and what the stakes will be, Republicans faces the potential for heaving losses. So these efforts to do that which is extraordinarily unpopular must happen via subterfuge, wink-wink nudge-nudge public statements about states’ rights and not taking a national position on abortion, while the courts and would-be Trump administration functionaries do all the quiet dirty work. The self-evident tension between the massive public rebuke of Dobbs —in the form of state ballot initiatives and referenda , local special elections , and state Supreme Court races —and the unabating efforts by rogue legislatures and fringe Supreme Courts to roll back abortion rights, was in evidence with Donald Trump’s refusal to state a coherent position on abortion on Monday : Turning back the clock for women is a demonstrably losing issue at the ballot box. And when candidate Trump says he wants to return the issue of abortion to the states, what he is really saying is that Arizona is free to return the issue to the time before doctors understood the value of hand-washing . (Also, why would anyone take his word on anything, ever?)

What happened in Alabama in February , in Florida last week, and in Arizona on Tuesday makes it clear that returning the reproductive freedom landscape to the Victorian age requires subverting whatever happens in elections. That’s why this massive rollback will be achieved by antidemocratic measures, including promises to breathe new life into the Comstock Act, and revanchist theocratic decisions from courts attempting to do away with IVF and rape exceptions in the name of fetal and embryonic personhood .

Comstock, in particular, is an instructive comparison here. That 1873 law, read expansively, bans all abortions , including both medication and in-clinic procedures. Indeed, far-right lawyers are at the Supreme Court trying to weaponize it against abortion pills right now. Trump’s top lawyers, including Jonathan Mitchell, have said that they plan to use Comstock as a nationwide ban on abortion if Trump regains office. They tell us that they intend to stay quiet about this scheme until after the election, at which point they will prepare for an executive order accompanied by prosecutions and regulations that make abortion a federal felony in all 50 states. The plot is similar to what just happened in Arizona: Republicans enacted a seemingly moderate 15-week ban, only to stand by and watch as their colleagues on a GOP-packed court resuscitated a total ban passed during the Civil War. Democratic Attorney General Kris Mayes—who beat her anti-abortion opponent in 2022 by 280 votes—has said she won’t prosecute violations of the law. But GOP county attorneys have rejected Mayes’ efforts to shield doctors and may well seek to charge any providers that stay open, throwing access into immediate jeopardy.

The next time someone tells you they really worry about abortion rights, but that President Biden is just too old , please gently remind them that Joe Biden is not, in fact 160. That is the age of the law that will soon be sending abortion providers to prison in Arizona if they attempt to assist a victim of rape or incest. If edgy modernity is truly your thing, be afraid of Republican judges who are at war with modernity itself; they will gladly welcome the assistance of pro-choice voters whose apathy facilitates the rollback of women’s equal citizenship. And it’s now abundantly clear that we’re not rolling back the tape to the 1970s or to the 1920s. The project is to set your clocks back to the time when women didn’t even matter enough to have a vote.