Arizona Senate passes bill to repeal Civil War-era near-total abortion ban, but fight isn't over yet

The Arizona state Senate voted to pass a repeal on the 1864 near-total abortion ban that the state Supreme Court approved in a ruling last month. Two Republicans voted in approving the repeal bill. It now goes to the desk of Democratic Governor Katie Hobbs to be signed into law. However a spokesperson said the signing won’t happen on Wednesday.

Specifically, the law said anyone who “provides, supplies or administers to a pregnant woman, or procures such woman to take any medicine, drugs or substance, or uses or employs any instrument or other means whatever, with intent thereby to procure the miscarriage of such woman, unless it is necessary to save her life, shall be punished by imprisonment in the state prison for not less than two years nor more than five years.” In other words, there is a mandatory two-year prison sentence for anyone providing an abortion or who “procures” the “miscarriage” of a “woman.” There was no mention of an exception for rape or incest.

Despite the repeal, the near-total abortion ban will go into effect as the repeal won’t go into effect until 90 days after the current legislative session ends, the Huffington Post reports. Notably, a majority of people in Arizona want to protect access to abortion, previous polls have shown. 

“I look forward to Gov. Hobbs signing the repeal into law as soon as possible,” Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes said Wednesday. “However, without an emergency clause that would allow the repeal to take effect immediately, the people of Arizona may still be subjected to the near-total abortion ban for a period of time this year. Rest assured, my office is exploring every option available to prevent this outrageous 160-year-old law from ever taking effect.”