The Arizona Senate voted on Wednesday to repeal the state’s 1864 ban on abortion which could have gone into effect within weeks if not struck down.
The repeal was passed by the Senate in a 16-14 vote and is expected to be quickly signed by Governor Katie Hobbs, a Democrat. Two Republican senators crossed party lines to vote in favour of repealing the ban.
The Arizona House last week passed the measure after a handful of Republicans broke party ranks and voted with Democrats to send it to the Senate.
“We’re here to repeal a bad law,” Senator Eva Burch, a Democrat, said from the floor, explaining her vote to repeal the old law. “I don’t want us honouring laws about women, written during a time when women were forbidden from voting.”
Republican Senator Wendy Rogers, who voted to maintain the 1864 ban, said in casting her vote that repealing the law went against the conservative values of Arizona.
“Life starts at conception. They got it right in 1864. We need to continue to get it right in 2024,” Rogers said.
The fight over the Civil War-era abortion ban in Arizona, a state sharply split between Democrats and Republicans, is the latest flashpoint on women’s reproductive rights in the US.
In 2022 the US Supreme Court ended the constitutional right to abortion, leaving it up to states to decide the issue. Conservative-led states quickly invoked strict bans on abortion within their borders.
Arizona top court revives 160-year-old near total abortion ban
Democrats across the US, confident that public opinion is on their side in supporting abortion rights, have sought to elevate the issue ahead of November’s presidential election. Arizona is a key battleground state.
The 1864 law was revived by a state Supreme Court ruling on April 9, and unless the legislature intervened, it could have taken effect within 60 days of that ruling, state Attorney General Kris Mayes, a Democrat, has said.
Restrictions on abortion are still in place in Arizona. In 2022, the state legislature passed a law that bans abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy.
Arizona Democrats have said they will continue attempting to place a ballot measure before voters in November that would restore abortion rights.
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