Democrats in Arizona attempted Wednesday to repeal a law banning nearly all abortions in the state that is set to take effect because of a state Supreme Court decision a day earlier, but they were blocked in both chambers by Republicans.
The action took place in both chambers of Arizona’s Legislature.
In the House, Phoenix Republican Rep. Matt Gress joined Democrats in seeking to bring up a bill to repeal the ban, set by an 1864 law the Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled must be enforced.
The motion was shot down by state Rep. David Livingston (R), who motioned for the House to head to recess and avoid a vote on the bill, The Arizona Republic reported.
In the state Senate, Democratic Sen. Anna Hernandez told The Hill she sought to make a motion for the state Senate to come back from recess to reconsider the ban, but that effort was “shut down.”
“They’re definitely blocking Democrats’ efforts to repeal this,” Hernandez told The Hill.
In the state House, Democrats shouted at Republicans that there would be “blood on your hands” after they refused to examine the bill. They shouted “shame” and “save women’s lives” while pointing at their colleagues across the aisle, as seen in videos that circulated on social media.
The surprise Arizona Supreme Court decision has roiled politics in the state and beyond. Democrats see abortion rights as a key issue that could help President Biden and other candidates in the fall. Former President Trump earlier this week said he would oppose legislation banning abortion at 15 or 16 weeks, a signal that he sees the issue as dangerous for his party.
State House Speaker Ben Toma (R) told Axios that he wouldn’t support a repeal and would not permit a vote on it.
Hernandez criticized her GOP colleagues for blocking the effort to repeal the ban. She said if they were serious in saying that the 1864 ban goes too far, they would not have done so.
She said she is considering next steps with her staff and colleagues in both the Senate and the House. Hernandez said her next opportunity to introduce a motion would be next Wednesday, when the state Senate is back in session.
“I think tensions are high, emotions are high,” Hernandez said. “This is a very emotional matter for so many of us.”
State Sen. Eva Burch (D), who earned national attention last month after announcing she was going to get an abortion, called Republicans “uncommonly foolish and untrustworthy.”
“I would like to say that I’m surprised about what happened today, but I’m not. This has been consistent.”
Burch noted that GOP lawmakers in the state are in a “pretty precarious position” about future legislation “fixing the problem that they created” and upsetting their voters ahead of the election.
“The clock is ticking on the issue, and the people of Arizona are expecting us to do something now,” she said.
On Tuesday, Arizona’s Supreme Court rejected arguments that it should uphold a 15-week abortion ban that had been state law in a 4-2 decision. In throwing out that law, the court effectively put back into place a Civil War-era law — passed before Arizona became a state — that bans virtually all abortions. The law does not have exceptions for rape or incest and would make performing or receiving an abortion a felony.
Gov. Katie Hobbs (D) said she will not rest until she has secured the right to abortion for Arizonans. After the court’s decision, Hobbs called on state legislators to repeal the ban “immediately.” She criticized Republicans who said the 1864 law goes too far but have yet to take her up on her repeated calls to repeal the ban.
Hobbs called Wednesday’s legislative action “unconscionable.” She said the Republican-controlled Legislature “had the chance to do the right thing” but “failed.”
“As they have time and again, radical legislators protected a Civil War-era total abortion ban that jails doctors, strips women of our bodily autonomy and puts our lives at risk,” her statement said.
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