Arizona Senate Votes To Repeal 1864 Law Banning All Abortions

Arizona Senate Votes To Repeal 1864 Law Banning All Abortions
By: NY Sun - Politics Posted On: May 01, 2024 View: 10

Arizona lawmakers have voted to repeal the state’s 1864 abortion ban, which was allowed to go into effect by a state Supreme Court ruling earlier this year.

The Arizona Senate voted Tuesday to repeal the ban, sending the measure to Governor Hobbs’s desk, who is expected to sign it. The state House passed the measure last week. 

Two Republicans joined every Democrat in the Senate vote. In the House, three Republicans joined Democrats in supporting the measure to repeal the 160-year-old law.

Per Arizona law, the repeal will not take effect until 90 days after the end of the legislative session, meaning there will still likely be several months when the ban is in effect. Once the repeal is completed, the state will still have a 15-week abortion ban on the books. 

Arizona is also expected to have a measure that would enshrine the right to an abortion in the state constitution on the ballot this November.

The abortion ban caused a schism in the state GOP, with national Republicans like President Trump saying it went too far and the state GOP’s Senate candidate, Kari Lake, changing position on the ban multiple times.

Republicans in the state legislature also faced pressure from the state’s anti-abortion movement. One Republican state senator, Jake Hoffman, told the Associated Press that “It is disgusting that this is the state of the Republican Party today.”

Democrats applauded the vote, with the party’s Senate candidate, Congressman Ruben Gallego, saying that “This is an important step, but our work isn’t done. Arizona women deserve better.”

“That’s why we’re going to pass a constitutional right to abortion and defeat anti-abortion extremists like Kari Lake this November,” Mr. Gallego said in a tweet.

In response to the expected ballot measure, state Republicans have outlined ideas for ballot measures of their own that they could put on the ballot. One leaked document described a plan to propose a measure that would ban abortions after six weeks, a 14-week ban, and a measure that would reaffirm the current 15-week ban.

Given the response to the 1864 ban and the ballot measure, abortion is expected to be a central issue in campaigns in Arizona ahead of the general election, an issue that might have the potency to swing the election in what is expected to be one of the closest states in the presidential race.

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