Arizona Senate repeals 1864 abortion ban, governor seen signing quickly
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
