Arizona Republicans voted to overturn the state’s 1864-era abortion ban Wednesday in a shocking about-face that could have ripple effects into November.
Two Republicans, Sens. Shawnna Bolick and T.J. Shope, voted with Democrats in the Senate to repeal the ban, which bans all abortions except to save the woman’s life, in a contentious session in which one Republican called the state of his party “disgusting.”
The reversal comes after last month’s ruling by the Arizona Supreme Court that the near-total ban is enforceable, replacing the 15-week ban that has been in place since shortly after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade in June 2022.
The court decision sent shockwaves through the state, forcing some previously anti-abortion Republicans—including Senate hopeful and MAGA favorite Kari Lake—to call on the state legislature to overturn it. Even Donald Trump said in an interview that the ban went “too far” and urged state lawmakers to “bring it back into reason.”
Republicans also feared that letting the ban stand would increase Democratic turnout in November for a planned ballot initiative enshrining abortion rights in the state constitution. Similar ballot measures in Kansas, Michigan, Vermont, and Ohio have all passed, and candidates even in deep-red states like Alabama have won local races by speaking out against the bans.
That did not mean the vote to overturn the ban came easily. Debate spanned more than two hours Wednesday, during which multiple members cried and at least two shared person stories of their own pregnancies to explain their vote.
Republican Sen. Shawnna Bolick explained her decision to vote with Democrats in a wide-ranging, nearly 30-minute speech in which she detailed all three of her pregnancies and assailed Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs, Planned Parenthood, and the state of Arizona for inducting Planned Parenthood founder Margaret Sanger into its Women’s Hall of Fame in 1991.
Toward the end of her speech, Bolick explained she was voting to repeal the ban in order to prevent a November ballot initiative that would enshrine abortion rights up to 24 weeks in the state constitution from passing.
“Until we have a better choice in this matter, I side with saving more lives,” Bolick said. “I want to protect our state constitution from unlimited abortions up until the moment of birth.”
The long-winded explanation did not save her from the condemnation of her fellow Republicans, including Sen. Anthony Kern, who compared Republicans voting with Democrats to Nazis, and Sen. Jake Hoffman, who said it was “disgusting that this is the state of the Republican party today.”
Three Republican representatives joined Democrats in a House vote to overturn the law last week, following two previous failed attempts.
Following the Senate vote, the bill now moves to Hobbs, who is expected to sign it. Because law repeals in Arizona do not take effect for 90 days after a legislative session concludes, and the 1864 ban is scheduled to take effect June 27, there will likely be a period this summer in which the near-total ban is still in effect.
Abortion will still be illegal in the state after 15 weeks after the repeal takes effect, leaving out some of the most medically complex cases and disadvantaging poor women and those who live farther from clinics, who may have a harder time scheduling an appointment before the cut-off.
Chris Love, a spokesperson for the group organizing the ballot initiative, issued a statement thanking pro-abortion lawmakers for working to repeal the ban, but added: “Unfortunately, Arizonans will still be living under a law that denies us the right to make decisions about our own health.”
“Arizonans cannot afford to celebrate or lose momentum,” she added. “The threat to our reproductive freedom is as immediate today as it ever was. Nothing will stop these relentless attacks on Arizonans’ freedoms except the Arizona Abortion Access Act.”
