- Arizona House voted 32 to 28 to repeal the 160-year-old law banning abortion
- State Supreme Court ruled 1864 law could be enforced on April 9
The Arizona House voted to repeal the 1864 law banning abortion in nearly all cases just weeks after the state Supreme Court delivered a controversial decision that sparked outrage nationwide.
The House voted to repeal the 160-year-old law with three Republicans crossing party lines to vote with Democrats.
The legislation now heads to the state’s Republican controlled Senate.
Arizona’s Democratic Governor Katie Hobbs has been urging the Republican controlled legislature to pass legislation repealing the Civil War-era law ever since the state Supreme Court’s decision came down that the law could be enforced sending shockwaves throughout the country.
Abortion rights protesters gathered outside the Arizona Capitol on April 17, 2024
Anti-abortion rights protesters outside the Arizona State Capitol before the House voted to repeal the 1864 law banning abortion
Democrats in the state legislature have been urging the repeal of the law that was in the books before Arizona even became a state for three weeks.
Two previous efforts to repeal the 1864 law were blocked by Republicans in recent weeks.
On Wednesday, three Republicans in the House voted on HB2677 with Democrats. The final vote was 32 to 28.
Onlookers in the gallery say the pledge of allegiance ahead of House Democrats moving to repeal the 1864 law banning nearly all abortion
On April 9, the state’s highest court ruled the law could be enforced which bans abortion in early all cases, with limited exceptions to save the life of the mother. The law does not include exceptions for rape or incest.
It paved the way for Arizona to have one of the strictest abortion bans in the country since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade in 2022 ending the federal right to an abortion and returning the issue to states.
