Arizona Senate votes to repeal 1864 abortion ban
By Holly Honderich
Arizona’s Senate has voted to repeal a 1864 law banning abortion, the last major push in the Democrat-led effort to erase the law from state books.
Two Republicans joined Senate Democrats to support the repeal bill, which narrowly passed the House last week.
Governor Katie Hobbs, a Democrat, hailed the result and is due to formalise the removal of the law.
The pre-statehood law bars abortion from the moment of conception, with no exceptions for rape or incest.
It was revived last month after Arizona’s top court ruled the ban could be enforced following the US Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe v Wade in June 2022, a landmark ruling which rescinded the nationwide right to abortion.
The decision unleashed an uproar across the country, where voters broadly support abortion access and galvanised efforts to put an abortion question on the ballot in November, which would expand rights in the state.
And for Republicans staring down autumn elections, the ban posed a major political dilemma, with legislators caught between the party’s conservative base and more moderate swing voters who decried the pre-Civil War bill as draconian.
Some leading Republicans including former President Donald Trump and former Arizona Governor Doug Ducey, distanced themselves from the law, suggesting it was out of step with the state’s voters.
