Arizona Republicans are expected to face renewed efforts from the state’s Democrats to repeal a Civil War-era abortion ban when they reconvene this week. State Republicans blocked efforts to repeal the ban three times already.
The most recent refusal to roll back the law came just last week, when Republicans blocked an effort by Democrats to repeal the law after the state’s Supreme Court ruled to allow the 150-year-old law to be enforced.
Now, the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee communications director, Abhi Rahman, tells the Sun he expects another vote this week.
“I’m almost sure they’re going to reintroduce it again,” Mr. Rahman says. “It’s very possible that it continues to come up. No one wants to be under a ban that’s over 150 years old.”
Last week, nearly every Republican in the state House voted to block the bill to repeal the 1864 ban. Democrats need just two Republican votes in the state House to pass the legislation.
If the House approves the repeal, the state Senate appears ready to sign off on it. However, the Arizona state Senate has a rule that requires a measure to be read on three separate days, meaning that the body, which only meets once a week, couldn’t approve the measure until May at the earliest.
It’s also possible that the state House Speaker, Ben Toma, who is a Republican, could send any version of the bill passed by the Senate to committee and further delay any repeal. Mr. Toma deployed this tactic on another bill aimed at repealing the 1864 ban earlier this year.
With the soonest possible repeal of the ban being in early May, it’s all but guaranteed that the ruling will go into effect. The state Supreme Court stayed its ruling for two weeks, meaning the ban will go into effect Wednesday.
Adding to the legal tangle, the attorney general’s office agreed not to enforce the 1864 ban for 45 days following a state Supreme Court ruling on the topic, giving state legislators another month after this Wednesday before criminal charges can be brought under the law.
The most likely state representative to vote to repeal the law is Representative Tim Dunn, who the Arizona Capitol Times reports has said he supports repealing the law. Mr. Dunn has, however, been unwilling to take the procedural votes necessary to bring the actual bill to the floor for debate.
The situation has created a conundrum for Arizona Republicans who face potential backlash from the national GOP, which is attempting to downplay the issue of abortion in the key swing state, and their own primary voters.
The Center for Arizona Policy’s president, Cathi Herrod, has been the leader of the anti-abortion rights movement in Arizona for years and, in an interview with KJZZ, she pressured lawmakers to again block efforts to repeal the ban.
“What we have done is called on lawmakers to keep their promise to the voters,” Ms. Herrod said, adding that she opposes the state’s 15-week abortion ban, saying “15 weeks is not a reasonable restriction on abortion because it allows 95 percent of abortions to happen.”
Ms. Herrod added that she was dissatisfied with President Trump for saying the Arizona ban went too far saying that “I don’t think that a hodgepodge of 50 states having 50 different laws on abortion works.”
Beyond intra-party politics, Republicans are facing attacks from Democrats, who are champing at the bit to highlight policies like the one in Arizona ahead of the 2024 election.
Sunday, Governor Newsom released a new ad critical of Alabama lawmakers who are attempting to criminalize helping a minor obtain an abortion in another state.
Mr. Newsom also unveiled a bill that would allow Arizona abortion providers to provide abortions in California, telling MSNBC that “We’re already dealing with the absorption of people seeking reproductive care in the state of California.”
Mr. Dunn, the Republican State Leadership Committee, and the Center for Arizona Policy did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Sun.
