Arizona governor set to sign repeal of near-total abortion ban from 1864

PHOENIX — Arizona is moving away from a Civil War-era ban on nearly all abortions as a repeal bill heads to Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs’ desk.

Hobbs says the repeal, which will be signed Thursday, is just the beginning of a fight to protect reproductive health care in Arizona. But the repeal may not take effect until 90 days after the end of the legislature, in June or July. Abortion rights advocates hope a court will intervene to prevent this outcome.

The effort to repeal the ban received final legislative approval in the Senate on a 16-14 vote on Wednesday, when two Republican lawmakers joined Democrats.

The vote lasted for hours as senators described their motivations in personal, emotional and even Biblical terms — including graphic descriptions of abortion procedures and amplified audio recordings of a fetal heartbeat, along with warnings against the dangers of “legislating religious beliefs.”

At the same time, on Wednesday, supporters of an abortion rights initiative in South Dakota submitted far more signatures than needed to reach a vote this fall, while in Florida a ban on most abortions went into effect after six weeks of pregnancy, before many women even know they are those are. pregnant.

Democratic Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes, an opponent of the near-total abortion ban, has said the dormant abortion ban law could not be implemented until June 27 at the earliest, though she has passed the state’s highest court asked to block enforcement until sometime at the end of July. . But the anti-abortion group defending the ban, Alliance Defending Freedom, argues that prosecutors could begin enforcing it once the Supreme Court’s decision becomes final, which has not yet occurred.

The near-total ban, which predates Arizona’s statehood, only allows abortions to save the patient’s life and provides no exceptions for survivors of rape or incest. In a ruling last month, the Arizona Supreme Court suggested that doctors could be prosecuted under the law first passed in 1864 that carries a prison sentence of two to five years for anyone who assists in an abortion.

A repeal means a 2022 statute banning the procedure after 15 weeks of pregnancy would become governing abortion law in Arizona.

Physician Ronald Yunis, a Phoenix obstetrician-gynecologist who also performs abortions, called the repeal a positive development for women who would otherwise leave Arizona for medical care.

“This is good to ensure that women don’t have to travel to other states just to get the health care they need,” Yunis said. “I wasn’t too concerned because I have a lot of confidence in our governor and attorney general. I am sure they will continue to find ways to protect women.”

Arizona is one of the few battleground states that will decide the next president. Former President Donald Trump, who has warned that the issue could lead to Republican losses, has avoided endorsing a national abortion ban but said he is proud of appointing the Supreme Court justices who allowed states to ban the ban .

President Joe Biden’s campaign team believes anger over the fall of Roe v. Wade gives them a political advantage in battleground states like Arizona, while the issue has divided Republican leaders.

Supporters of the abortion ban in the Senate on Wednesday jeered and interrupted Republican Sen. Shawnna Bolick as she explained her vote for repeal, along with Democrats. Bolick is married to Supreme Court Justice Clint Bolick, who voted in April to re-enact an 1864 law on abortion. He faces retention elections in November.

The 19th-century 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 that the 1864 ban could be enforced. Yet the law has not yet been effectively enforced while the case was moving through the courts.

Planned Parenthood Arizona filed a motion Wednesday afternoon asking the state Supreme Court to prevent a pause in abortion services until the Legislature’s repeal takes effect.

Supporters are collecting signatures for a ballot measure that would allow abortion until a fetus can survive outside the womb, usually around 24 weeks, with exceptions — to save the parent’s life or to protect her physical or mental health.

Republican lawmakers, in turn, are considering putting one or more competing abortion proposals on the November ballot.