PHOENIX — Democrats in the Arizona Senate have cleared the way to bring to a vote a proposal to repeal the state’s near-total abortion ban, after the state’s highest court concluded the law can be enforced and the state House blocked efforts to undo it. the long-dormant law.
While no vote was taken on the repeal itself, Republican Senators TJ Shope and Shawnna Bolick supported 14 Senate Democrats on Wednesday in changing the rules to allow a repeal proposal to move forward after the bill hearing deadline. have passed. Proponents say the Senate could vote on repeal as early as May 1.
If the proposed repeal gains final approval from the Republican-controlled Legislature and is signed into law by Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs, the 2022 law banning the procedure after 15 weeks of pregnancy would become the prevailing abortion law.
The Senate move came after Republicans in the Arizona House, for the second time in a week, blocked attempts on Wednesday to bring a repeal bill to a vote. A Republican joined 29 Democrats in the Arizona House to bring the repeal measure to a vote on Wednesday, but the effort failed twice by 30-30 votes.
The state’s near-total ban, which predates Arizona’s statehood, allows abortion only to save a woman’s life and makes no exceptions for rape or incest. It imposes a sentence of two to five years in prison for doctors or anyone else who helps with an abortion.
Last week, the Arizona Supreme Court drastically altered the legal landscape for pregnancy termination in the state, concluding that the 1864 law could be enforced and suggesting that doctors could be sued under the statute.
The debate in the Chamber on the possibility of allowing a vote on the repeal proposal was much more fierce than in the Senate. Members of pro-life groups packed the House gallery and gave a standing ovation after efforts to bring the repeal bill to a vote were defeated.
House Speaker Ben Toma said those who wanted to repeal the law demanded action very early, noting that the court’s decision to revive the law came just a week ago. He said the only way he could bring the repeal bill to a vote was if his Republican colleagues wanted it.
“We have deeply held beliefs,” Toma said. “And I would ask everyone in this chamber to respect the fact that anyone wants to believe that abortion is actually the murder of children.”
Democratic Rep. Alma Hernandez of Tucson said Republicans are failing to act on an issue of great importance to Arizonans. “That’s what we’re talking about right now: whether or not we should tear down something that is archaic, something that will really impact women in Arizona,” Hernandez said. process.”
Rep. Matt Gress, the Phoenix Republican who joined Democrats in trying to bring the repeal measure to a vote, said the 160-year-old law does not reflect the values of most people who live in the state.
“We need to get this taken care of and taken care of as quickly as possible,” Gress said. “I think the eyes of the nation are on Arizona.”
In a statement, Hobbs, who supports repealing the law, said: “Republican extremists in the House have once again failed to do the right thing. In just one week of living under this new reality, women, doctors and health care providers have already begun to feel the devastating effects of living under a total abortion ban. We can’t continue like this.”
The Center for Arizona Policy, a longtime advocate of anti-abortion proposals before the Legislature, released a statement saying, “Today was a victory for life, if only temporarily. A majority of pro-life lawmakers today kept their promise to protect unborn children and their mothers and not to repeal Arizona’s pre-Roe law.”
The Civil War-era law had been blocked since the Roe v. Wade ruling. Wade of the US Supreme Court in 1973 guaranteed the constitutional right to abortion throughout the country.
After Roe v. Wade was overturned in June 2022, then-Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich, a Republican, persuaded a state judge to lift an injunction blocking enforcement of the 1864 ban. Brnovich’s Democratic successor, Attorney General Kris Mayes, urged the state’s highest court to hold against him.
The state’s highest court said enforcement of the 1864 law will not begin for at least two weeks. However, it could take up to two months, based on a settlement reached in a related case in Arizona. ____ Associated Press writer Scott Sonner in Reno, Nevada, contributed to this report.
This story originally appeared on ABCNews.go.com read the full story
