Arizona House of Representatives votes to repeal 160-year-old anti-abortion law

This ruling would mean that the law would come into force again after sixty days, on June 8. This concerns an anti-abortion law from 1864, which only allows the procedure if the life of the pregnant person is in danger. Doctors who perform abortions can receive a prison sentence of five years.

Democrats in the Arizona House of Representatives want to prevent the law from coming into effect. They have already voted on a proposal to abolish the law twice in the past three weeks.

The Republican majority in the House of Representatives blocked those efforts. On Wednesday, however, Democrats received support from three Republican delegates, enough for a narrow 32-28 majority.

If the Arizona Senate also agrees to the proposal, the law will permanently disappear from the law book. The Republicans have a small majority in the Senate, just like in the House.

Abortion ban

If the law does come into effect, Arizona will join the fourteen American states with an almost complete abortion ban. Since the US Supreme Court abolished the national right to abortion in June 2022, states have been allowed to decide their own abortion legislation. That decision gave the Arizona Supreme Court room to reinstate the 160-year-old anti-abortion law.

National politics are closely following the discussion about the anti-abortion law. Arizona is a swing state that could be decisive in the presidential elections in November. In 2020, Joe Biden won the state by just ten thousand votes.

Not only Democrats, but also many Republican voters are against the restoration of the 160-year-old anti-abortion law. In an effort to retain the support of those voters, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said the Arizona Supreme Court has “gone too far.”