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. It was the third attempt to repeal the law.
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.
One House Democrat returned to the Capitol to cast a vote to repeal the law despite undergoing knee-replacement surgery the day before.
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.
After the ruling came down Democrats and some Republican leaders blasted the decision which left lawmakers in the state scrambling.
Vice President Kamala Harris traveled to the state where she laid the blame for the law directly at the feet of former President Trump and accused Republicans for wanting to take the state back to the 1800s.
Trump, while touting the overturning of Roe v Wade by Supreme Court justices he nominated, also said the state court decision went too far.
He suggested lawmakers in the state would move quickly to repeal it but the effort has taken weeks with Republican lawmakers blocking efforts multiple times before Wednesday’s House vote.
Arizona’s Republican House Speaker Ben Toma pauses too watch the vote tally as House moves to repeal the Arizona near total abortion ban. He voted against the move
In response to Wednesday’s vote, Arizona’s Republican House Speaker released a statement stating that he disagrees with his Democratic colleagues on the issue.
‘I am deeply disappointed. As I have said before, Democrats apparently believe that abortions should occur with no limits and no regulations,’ Speaker Ben Toma said.
After the vote, Republicans in the House booted GOP Rep. Matt Gress who voted to repeal the law from his committee assignments.
In a statement after his vote Gress said the House acted on a ‘bipartisan basis to repeal our state’s territorial abortion law that is unworkable and out of line with the values of Arizonans.’