Breaking: Arizona House Repeals 1864 Ban

Did backlash break the ban?

I was going to put this in the daily report, but I didn’t want to hold out on good news. This afternoon, the Arizona House voted to repeal the state’s 1864 abortion ban. While Republicans have a majority in the state Senate, there’s a good chance they move ahead with the repeal, too. (Remember, Democrats had enough GOP votes last week in favor of a repeal; it was the House holding them up.) Obviously, if it passes the state Senate, Gov. Katie Hobbs will sign the legislation.

The ban, which has been the center of a tremendous amount of controversy, is a reminder of what Republicans’ end goal really is: pushing women back to a time when we had zero choices. About anything.

In the end, though, it appears that conservative politicians couldn’t take the backlash. U.S. Senate candidate and failed gubernatorial hopeful Kari Lake has been lobbying legislators to repeal the ban, as has Donald Trump—who didn’t want fury over the 160-year old law messing with his campaign.

The Arizona Tipping Point

While this is undoubtedly great news, we can’t get ahead of ourselves. If Arizona’s law is repealed, it would reinstate a 15-week ban. (Better than a total ban, but still.) And while a pro-choice amendment is making its way to voters in November, Republicans accidentally it slip recently that they’re considering proposing their own fake ‘pro-choice’ measures. These amendments would sound pro-choice, but would actually enshrine Republican bans if passed.

That strategy seems to be moving forward: NBC News reports that Republicans voted today to advance three resolutions that Democrats expect are those fake measures (the GOP pushed them forward without explaining what they were).

Chris Love of Arizona for Abortion Access, the group proposing the actual pro-choice measure, said this looked like "the first step toward referring up to three anti-abortion measures to the November ballot aimed at confusing and deceiving voters in hopes of pulling votes from the Arizona Abortion Access Act."

As I wrote earlier this week, this is a tactic we’re seeing in multiple states and need to keep an eye on.

Meanwhile, there has been confusion this week about Arizona’s ban, with anti-abortion activists insisting that the 1864 ban is now in effect. Attorney General Kris Mayes, however, says it won’t be enforceable until June 8th. (Assuming it isn’t repealed by then.) Thankfully, Planned Parenthood is abiding by Mayes’ directive.

In case you need a refresher: Mayes was given authority over abortion cases in the state by Gov. Hobbs—a move to stop the criminalization of abortion. Mayes also asked the state Supreme Court this week to take another look at the 1864 law and the justices’ ruling.

I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s even more Arizona news by the time I send you the full daily report this evening, but in the meantime—let’s enjoy the good news.

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