Arizona: Senate votes to repeal 1864 law banning abortion

As abortion laws tighten in several US states, Arizona’s upper house voted Wednesday to repeal a law banning nearly all abortions. This text, dating from 1864, prohibits any voluntary termination of pregnancy from the moment of conception, except in cases where the mother’s life is in danger. Neither rape nor incest are considered valid exceptions.

The decision to cancel was made by 16 votes in favor and 14 against. The bill must now be signed into law by Katie Hobbs, Arizona’s Democratic governor. In a statement about the vote, she said she was “happy,” saying she “looks forward to the passage of this repeal.”

Abortion rights are becoming a major presidential campaign issue in the United States, and Arizona is one of the key states that could decide the final outcome.

‘The rights of millions of Arizonans are at stake’

The southwestern state’s Supreme Court nevertheless ruled in early April that the 1864 law applies. The decision, which sparked intense debate in the country, was condemned by Joe Biden but also criticized. Donald Trump’s moderate path. “This blanket abortion ban would imprison doctors, endanger the lives of women across our state and deprive millions of Arizonans of the right” to decide about their bodies, Katie Hobbs said Wednesday.

The ruling takes into account the changing jurisprudence of the US Supreme Court, which in June 2022 invalidated the federal guarantee of abortion rights. Since that decision gave states free rein to legislate in this area, nearly twenty states have banned or severely limited access to abortion.

The decision to “restore the law to a time when Arizona was not a state, the Civil War was raging and women could not even vote will go down in history as a stain on our state,” Arizona’s attorney general complained on April 9. , Democrat Chris Mayes.

Supporters of the People’s Initiative announced in April that they had collected the necessary signatures to force a referendum to include abortion in the Arizona Constitution. This vote should take place at the same time as the presidential election in November, as will be the case in Florida (southeast), another crucial state.

Outgoing Democratic President Joe Biden is making women’s rights a major focus of his campaign for a second term, facing his Republican opponent Donald Trump. The latter is proud that, through his appointments to the US Supreme Court in June 2022, he achieved the overturning of federal abortion protections. However, he insists on the electoral risks of taking an overly conservative stance on the issue.