Less than a month after the Arizona Supreme Court ruled to uphold a Civil War-era abortion ban, the Arizona Senate voted 16-14 to repeal the 160-year-old law. The repeal relied on the votes of two Republicans, Sens. Shawnna Bolick and T.J. Shope, who voted with the state senate’s 14 Democrats.
A.R.S. § 36-2322 became law in 1864, at a time when Arizona was still merely a U.S. territory. It outlawed abortion from the moment of conception, with an exception only to save the life of the mother. Violators were subject to fines and prison time.
The law has been primarily dormant, as it was replaced by a 1901 law that governed abortion, A.R.S. § 13-3603. That law was declared unconstitutional after the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Roe v. Wade that abortion was a constitutionally-protected right. Following the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, Arizona adopted a yet another abortion law that permitted abortions up to 15 weeks of viability.
However, a conflict arose because the 1864 law had never been officially repealed. Planned Parenthood sued the state to challenge the 2022 statute, and in April 2023, Arizona’s top court ruled that the 2022 law “does not independently authorize abortion,” and that the 1864 law was “now enforceable.”
The ruling was widely criticized for reviving an archaic regulation with roots from a time when women could not vote and Arizona was not even a state. Furthermore, Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes issued a statement calling the Arizona Supreme Court’s ruling “unconscionable and an affront to freedom,” and promising that no woman or doctor would be prosecuted under the law during her tenure.
Arizona’s Democratic governor, Katie Hobbs, also opposed the ruling and promised, “I won’t rest, and I won’t stop fighting until we have secured the right to abortion.”
Wednesday’s vote in the Arizona Senate came a week after three state House Republicans joined the 29 Democrats to repeal the 1864 statute.
Hobbs said in a statement Wednesday that she looked forward to signing the bill quickly and thanked House Democrats for their work to repeal the “draconian” law.
“Arizona women should not have to live in a state where politicians make decisions that should be between a woman and her doctor,” said Hobbs. “While this repeal is essential for protecting women’s lives, it is just the beginning of our fight to protect reproductive healthcare in Arizona.”
H.B. 2677 and S.B. 1734 — the bills to repeal the 1864 abortion ban — were introduced by two Democratic lawmakers, Rep. Stephanie Stahl Hamilton and Sen. Anna Hernandez, in their respective chambers.
Hernandez said in a statement that she celebrates the repeal and the unity of her Democratic colleagues, but warned that, “Republican leadership in Arizona has shown that they are unwavering in their desire to strip us of our rights, our voices, and our vote.”
Similarly, Hamilton said, “Make no mistake, the 15-week ban is still a ban, and we have important work ahead of us to fully restore reproductive freedom in Arizona, but this repeal was the right thing to do and it will save lives.”
Of particular note was the vote in favor of the repeal by Bolick, the 49-year-old outspoken Donald Trump supporter who sponsored legislation to overturn the popular vote after the 2020 presidential election. Bolick has a long history of being staunchly opposed to abortion and in February, told voters to oppose a legislation that would enshrine the right to abortion in Arizona’s constitution. At the time, Bolick called abortion “an assault on God’s value in sovereignty regarding the sanctity of human life.”
Bolick is also the wife of Arizona Supreme Court Justice Clint Bolick, who voted to uphold the 1864 abortion ban last month. Sen. Bolick preceded her vote with nearly 30 minutes of commentary on the Senate floor in which she detailed her three pregnancies and denounced Hobbs. Bolick said that she voted to repeal the 1864 ban in order to prevent a ballot initiative that would go further to protect abortion rights.
“Until we have a better choice in this matter, I side with saving more lives,” Bolick explained. “I want to protect our state constitution from unlimited abortions up until the moment of birth.”
Bolick’s vote subjected her to the ire of fellow Arizona Republicans, including Freedom Caucus chair Sen. Jake Hoffman, who remarked that Bolick’s vote is exemplary of what he called the “disgusting” state of the current Republican Party, which is “abandoning the Founding Fathers’ principles.”
Hoffman, notably, along with seventeen others, was indicted on a charge of forgery, fraud, and conspiracy a week ago for his involvement in efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
“I voted to protect life,” Hoffman posted after the vote Wednesday.
The post ‘Disgusting’: Arizona Republicans face criticism from their own party after voting to repeal 1864 abortion ban first appeared on Law & Crime.
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Author: Elura Nanos
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