Arizona Republicans again block attempt to repeal 1864 abortion ban

Arizona House Republicans on Wednesday blocked an attempt to repeal the state’s 1864 near-total ban on abortion, the second time in as many weeks that Democrats have failed to vote on their repeal bill.

The move came despite pressure from influential conservatives, including former President Trump and a key Trump ally, Senate candidate Kari Lake, who called on GOP leaders to overturn the ban.

In a procedural move, state House Democrats attempted to introduce a motion to suspend the House rules and bring the repeal bill to the floor for consideration. But the change was rejected by the majority of the Republican Party. Only one Republican crossed party lines to vote in favor of the repeal proposal.

“Democrats have introduced this bill for six years and been ignored in each one of them, including this one. We had the opportunity to hear this in the regular committee. We were ignored. We had the opportunity to hear this last week, we were ignored,” said House Assistant Minority Leader Rep. Oscar De Los Santos (D).

The vote was 30-30, meaning the motion failed.

“The last thing we should be doing today is rushing a bill through the legislative process to repeal a law that has been enacted and that we have affirmed by the legislature multiple times,” House Speaker Ben Toma (R) said on the floor while voting against the movement.

“Abortion is a very complicated topic. It is ethically morally complex. I understand that we have deeply held beliefs. And I ask everyone in this chamber to respect the fact that there are some of us who believe that abortion is actually the murder of children,” Toma said.

If the 1864 prohibition were repealed, the state would return to the 15-week prohibition that was invalidated by the court.

The state Supreme Court’s decision last week to reinstate the 1864 ban caused a national uproar and forced a political reckoning among Republicans, many of whom have long said abortion is morally indefensible.

The century-old law, which was passed before Arizona became a state, makes abortion a crime punishable by two to five years in prison for anyone who performs or helps a woman obtain an abortion.

Republicans blocked a similar attempt to repeal the ban last week. After Democrats in and out of the state spent the week continually hammering the law, prominent Republicans like Trump and Lake saw the political danger and urged the Legislature to roll back it.

But when Rep. Stephanie Stahl Hamilton (D) rose to introduce her motion on Wednesday, Republicans successfully blocked the vote on procedural grounds.

“I’m frustrated that things of this nature, which are very important and critical to Arizonans, need to be heard and discussed. We’re talking about a bill that was passed before Arizona was even a state, before women had the right to vote,” said Rep. Alma Hernandez (D). “The fact that we will not even accept a motion to allow those who have been raped or pregnant through incest to have an abortion is extremely, extremely disappointing.”