|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
Arizona
Lawmakers
Repeal
1864
Abortion
Ban
Jack
Healy
nytimes.com
Arizona
lawmakers
voted on
Wednesday
to
repeal
an
abortion
ban that
first
became
law when
Abraham
Lincoln
was
president
and a
half-century
before
women
won the
right to
vote.
A bill
to
repeal
the law
passed
16-14 in
the
Republican-controlled
State
Senate
with the
support
of every
Democratic
senator
and two
Republicans
who
broke
with
anti-abortion
conservatives
in their
own
party.
It now
goes to
Gov.
Katie
Hobbs, a
Democrat,
who is
expected
to sign
it.
The vote
was the
culmination
of a
fevered
effort
to
repeal
the law
that has
made
abortion
a
central
focus of
Arizona’s
politics.
The
issue
has
galvanized
Democratic
voters
and
energized
a
campaign
to put
an
abortion-rights
ballot
measure
before
Arizona
voters
in
November.
On the
right,
it
created
a rift
between
anti-abortion
activists
who want
to keep
the law
in place
and
Republican
politicians
who
worry
about
the
political
backlash
that
could be
prompted
by
support
of a
near-total
abortion
ban with
no
exceptions
for rape
or
incest.
The 1864
law had
gathered
dust on
the
books
for
decades.
But it
exploded
into an
election-year
flashpoint
three
weeks
ago when
a 4-2
decision
by the
State
Supreme
Court,
whose
justices
are all
Republican-appointed,
said the
ban
could
now be
enforced
because
of the
overturning
of Roe
v. Wade.
Two
Republican
state
senators,
T.J.
Shope
and
Shawnna
Bolick,
joined
with
Democrats
on
Wednesday
to force
that
repeal
bill to
a vote
over
furious
attempts
by
far-right
Republicans
to block
it.
Before
casting
her
pivotal
vote,
Ms.
Bolick
stood up
and
began a
long,
deeply
personal
speech
describing
her own
three
challenging
pregnancies,
including
one that
ended
with an
abortion
procedure
in her
first
trimester
because
the
fetus
was not
viable.
“Would
Arizona’s
pre-Roe
law have
allowed
me to
have
this
medical
procedure
even
though
my life
wasn’t
in
danger?”
she
asked.
But Ms.
Bolick
also
railed
against
Planned
Parenthood
and
Democratic
support
for
abortion
rights.
She
argued
that her
vote to
repeal
the 1864
ban
could be
Arizona’s
best
shot at
curbing
the
momentum
behind a
proposed
ballot
measure
to
enshrine
abortion
protections
in the
state
constitution.
“We
should
be
pushing
for the
maximum
protection
for
unborn
children
that can
be
sustained,”
she
said. “I
side
with
saving
more
babies’
lives.”
As she
spoke,
abortion
opponents
watching
from the
public
gallery
erupted
with
angry
shouts:
“Come
on!”
“This is
a
disgrace!”
“One day
you will
face a
just and
holy
God!”
Several
anti-abortion
Republican
lawmakers
responded
to the
vote
with
fiery
speeches.
They
equated
abortions
to
Naziism
and
compared
the
repeal
vote
with the
Sept. 11
attacks.
They
read
graphic
descriptions
of
later-term
abortions.
They
quoted
the
Bible
and made
direct
appeals
to God
from the
Senate
floor.
Two
choked
up.
Senator
J.D.
Mesnard,
who
represents
a
suburban
swing
district,
held up
his
phone
and
played a
sonogram
recording
of his
daughter’s
heartbeat.
“If I
vote
yes,
these
will be
fewer,
these
heart
beatings,”
he said.
State
Senator
Anthony
Kern, a
Republican
who was
also
among
Arizona’s
fake
electors
indicted
last
week in
an
election-conspiracy
case,
said the
Senate
was
betraying
its
opposition
to
abortion,
and
predicted
that the
vote
would
pave the
way for
acceptance
of
pedophilia.
“This is
innocent
blood,”
he said.
“Why
can’t we
show the
nation
we are
pro-life?
We will
have the
blessing
of God
over
this
state if
we do
that.
Our only
hope is
Jesus
Christ.”
Democrats,
for
their
part,
mostly
stayed
silent
or made
brief
statements
supporting
repeal.
“We’re
here to
repeal a
bad
law,”
said
State
Senator
Eva
Burch,
who had
an
abortion
this
spring
to end a
nonviable
pregnancy
— an
experience
she
described
in an
emotional
floor
speech.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
I
HI TECH NEWS
I
SPORTS
I
