PHOENIX (AP) — Democrats in the Arizona Senate have cleared a path to put a proposed repeal of a near-total ban on abortions to a vote after the state’s highest court concluded the law can be upheld and it state House blocked efforts to overturn the ban. long dormant status.
Although the repeal itself was not voted on, Republican Senators TJ Shope and Shawnna Bolick sided with 14 Senate Democrats on Wednesday in changing the rules to allow a repeal proposal to be brought forward after the deadline for hearing bills had expired. Supporters say the Senate could vote on the repeal as early as May 1.
If the proposed repeal receives final approval from the Republican-controlled Legislature and is signed by Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs, the 2022 statute banning the procedure after 15 weeks of pregnancy would become governing abortion law.
The Senate decision came after Republicans in the Arizona House on Wednesday blocked efforts to bring a repeal bill to a vote for the second time in a week. One Republican joined 29 Democrats in the Arizona House on Wednesday to put the repeal measure to a vote, but the effort failed twice on 30-30 votes.
The state’s near-total ban, which predates Arizona’s statehood, allows abortions only to save a woman’s life and provides no exceptions for rape or incest. It carries a prison sentence of two to five years for doctors or anyone else who assists in an abortion.
Last week, the Arizona Supreme Court dramatically changed the legal landscape for terminating pregnancies in the state, concluding that the 1864 law can be enforced and suggesting that doctors could be sued under the statute.
The debate in the House of Representatives about whether to vote on the repeal proposal was much fiercer than in the Senate. Members of pro-life groups filled the stands of the House of Representatives and gave a standing ovation after efforts to bring the repeal bill to a vote failed.
Speaker of the House of Representatives Ben Toma said those seeking to repeal the law were demanding action too quickly, noting that the court’s decision to revive the law was made only a week ago. He said the only way he could bring the repeal bill to a vote would be if his fellow Republicans wanted him to.
“We have deeply held beliefs,” Toma said. “And I would ask everyone in this room to respect the fact that anyone wants to believe that abortion is, in fact, the murder of children.”
Democratic Rep. Alma Hernandez of Tucson said Republicans are failing to take action on an issue of great importance to Arizonans. “This is what we’re debating now: whether or not we should overturn something that’s archaic, something that’s really going to have an impact on women in Arizona,” Hernandez said. “And yet we want to talk about a trial or about the right. process.”
Rep. Matt Gress, the Phoenix Republican who joined Democrats in trying to bring the repeal measure to a vote, said the 160-year-old law does not reflect the values of most people who live in the state.
“We need to take care of that and get it done as quickly as possible,” Gress said. “I think the eyes of the nation are on Arizona.”
In a statement, Hobbs, who supports a repeal of the law, said: “Republican extremists in the House of Representatives have once again failed to do the right thing. In just a week of living under this new reality, women, doctors and healthcare providers have already begun to feel the devastating effects of living under a total ban on abortion. We cannot continue like this.”
The Center for Arizona Policy, a longtime supporter of anti-abortion proposals in the Legislature, released a statement saying, “Today was a victory for life, even if only temporarily. Most pro-life lawmakers today kept their pledge to protect the unborn and their mothers and not repeal Arizona’s pre-Roe law.”
The Civil War-era law had been blocked since the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling guaranteed the constitutional right to abortion nationwide.
After Roe v. Wade was overturned in June 2022, then-Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich, a Republican, convinced a state judge to lift an injunction blocking enforcement of the 1864 ban. Brnovich’s Democratic successor, Attorney General Kris Mayes, urged the state Supreme Court to rule against it.
The state’s highest court said enforcement of the 1864 law won’t begin for at least two weeks. However, it could take up to two months, based on an agreement reached in a related case in Arizona. ____ Associated Press writer Scott Sonner in Reno, Nevada, contributed to this report.
