Arizona Lawmakers Repeal 1864 Abortion Ban, Creating Rift on the Right
The New York Times
Two Republican state senators broke with their party to ensure final passage of the repeal. Gov. Katie Hobbs, a Democrat, is expected to sign it on Thursday.
Arizona lawmakers voted on Wednesday to repeal an abortion ban that first became law when Abraham Lincoln was president and a half-century before women won the right to vote.
A bill to repeal the law passed, 16-14, in the Republican-controlled State Senate with the support of every Democratic senator and two Republicans who broke with anti-abortion conservatives who dominate their party. It now goes to Gov. Katie Hobbs, a Democrat, who is expected to sign it on Thursday.
The vote was the culmination of a fevered effort to repeal the law that has made abortion a central focus of Arizona’s politics.
“We are standing in a moment of Arizona history,” said State Senator Anna Hernandez, a Democrat who called the repeal measure up to a vote on Wednesday.
The issue has galvanized Democratic voters and energized a campaign to put an abortion-rights ballot measure before Arizona voters in November. On the right, it created a rift between anti-abortion activists who want to keep the law in place and Republican politicians who worry about the political backlash that could be prompted by support of a near-total abortion ban with no exceptions for rape or incest.
The 1864 law had gathered dust on the books for decades. But it exploded into an election-year flashpoint three weeks ago when a 4-2 decision by the State Supreme Court, whose justices are all Republican-appointed, said the ban could now be enforced because of the overturning of Roe v. Wade.
