Arizona Senate repeals 1864 abortion ban, governor seen signing quickly
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[May 02, 2024]
By Brad Brooks
(Reuters) -The Arizona Senate voted on Wednesday to repeal the state's
1864 ban on abortion, which could otherwise have taken effect within
weeks.
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 favor 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. "I don't want us honoring laws about women, written
during a time when women were forbidden from voting."
Republican Senator Wendy Rogers said in casting her vote to maintain the
1864 ban 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 U.S. In 2022 the U.S.
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.
Democrats across the U.S., 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.
Heather Williams, president of the Democratic Legislative Campaign
Committee that works to elect Democrats to state legislatures, said her
party would capitalize on the "extreme nature of MAGA Arizona
Republicans" who voted to maintain the 1864 law as Democrats try to flip
the state's House and Senate in November's elections.
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![](../images/050224PIX/news_k21.jpg)
Women hold a sign at a protest in the district of Republican state
Representative Matt Gress after Arizona's Supreme Court revived a
law dating to 1864 that bans abortion in virtually all instances, in
Scottsdale, Arizona, U.S. April 14, 2024. REUTERS/Caitlin
O’Hara/File Photo
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2024/May/02/images/ads/current/aeps_lda_013124.png)
Rogers, the Republican state senator, acknowledged the political
risks.
"Some colleagues would say it's politically pragmatic for us to find
middle ground," she said. "We might lose the legislature, we might
lose the presidential election. But it's more important to do what's
right."
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.
(Reporting by Brad Brooks in Longmont, Colorado; Editing by Donna
Bryson, Leslie Adler and David Gregorio)
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