Abortion in Arizona: State house lawmakers approve repeal of near-total ban

PHOENIX - A bill that will repeal a near-total abortion ban in Arizona has been passed by State House lawmakers on April 24.

The bill, known as HB 2677, would repeal a piece of Arizona law that can trace its roots back to the 1860s. The law, known as A.R.S. 13-3603, bans nearly all abortions in Arizona unless such an action is necessary to save a woman's life.

The vote was 32 to 28.

Republicans had repeatedly used procedural votes to block earlier repeal efforts, each time drawing condemnation from Democratic President Joe Biden, who has made his support for abortion rights central to his reelection campaign. The breakthrough came Wednesday when a second Republican joined all Democrats in voting to overrule GOP House speaker, who has steadfastly blocked repeal. A third Republican joined to support repeal.

If the proposed repeal wins final approval from the Republican-controlled Legislature and is signed into law by Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs, a 2022 statute banning the procedure after 15 weeks of pregnancy would become the prevailing abortion law.

At the Capitol

Pro-life groups packed the balcony. Some praying, some reciting the Pledge of Allegiance, and some singing God Bless America.

Regardless of the outcome, both sides promise the battle has just begun.

"At the end of the day, regardless of where you are politically, they believe that it is up to a person to choose what they should do with their body and I think having those conversations with people that you normally don’t have, it’s a very important thing," said Melissa Westbrook, an Abortion Freedom volunteer.

Kathy Herrod is with the Center for Arizona and is steadfast in her stance on abortion.

"So today’s action by the House and if the senate follow suit, it still leaves a strong set of pro-life loss common sense safeguards in place, but unfortunately it doesn’t protect the lives of unborn children," she said.

If the repeal passes the Senate, it’ll go to the governor's desk.

Democrats gave their opinion during the hearing.

"It's about time that the Arizona Legislature did what was necessary to protect patients and repeal this archaic ban. I do want to be clear that this is just the first step," said State Rep. Analise Ortiz of Glendale.

Republicans also gave their opinion.

"Bills have crossed our desk to stop violence, stop fentanyl death, stop domestic abuse, stop sex abusers, protect animal rights, stop harvesting, stop gun violence, saving missing exploited children, and even preventing tooth decay, but now we’re passing a bill to kill a baby, and we have to call that health care," said State Rep. Barbara Parker of Mesa.

Governor Hobbs has made her stance clear.

"The House did the right thing today and voted to repeal this ban. Now, the senate needs to do the right thing and get it to my desk so I can sign the repeal to this ban," she said.

The three Republicans who sided with the Dems are Matt Gress, Timothy Dunn, and Justin Wilmeth.

"Three people, for whatever reason, they vote on fear. They vote on money. They vote on power. They don't vote what's right. Are they going to be primaried? I hope so. I hope all three them lose their seats," said Arizona Senator Anthony Kern of Glendale.

In the end, Hobbs says this will bring more voters to the polls come November.

"Arizonans are outraged," Hobbs said. "They don't want politicians and the government involved in these personal health care decisions."

Overturning of Roe sparked new round of abortion battle in Arizona

The fight over abortion in Arizona came about once again after Roe was overturned. According to the ruling, Mark Brnovich, who was the state's attorney general at the time, sought to set aside a ruling that made the A.R.S. 13-3603 unenforceable following the Dobbs ruling in 2022, which eliminated the federal constitutional right to abortion.

By that point, there were two competing laws on abortion in Arizona: A.R.S. 13-3603 and the 15-week limit, which is now known as A.R.S. 36-2322.

On April 9, 2024, justices on the Arizona State Supreme Court ruled that the state government can enforce A.R.S. 13-3603.

There were efforts to repeal the abortion ban in the aftermath of th April 9 ruling, but previous efforts have fallen short.

Arizonans could vote on abortion in November

Meanwhile, according to the website for the Arizona Secretary of State's office, there is a proposed ballot measure for the November election that would enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution.

The measure would require the state to "not enact, adopt or enforce any law, regulation, or practice" that would deny, restrict, or interfere with the right to abortion before fetal viability, with certain exceptions.

‘Fetal viability’ is defined in the proposed measure as "the point in pregnancy when, in the good faith judgment of a treating health care professional and based on the particular facts of the case, there is a significant likelihood of the fetus's sustained survival outside the uterus without the application of extraordinary medical measures." According to an article published on the National Library of Medicine's website, 24 weeks is considered to be the threshold for fetal viability in the U.S.

The proposed ballot measure, which is also known by its petition serial number I-05-2024, needs 383,923 verified signatures by July 3 in order to appear in the November ballot. In our report on the proposed measure on April 2, leaders of the group backing the measure say they have collected over 500,000 signatures from voters, with plans to collect more.

A leaked planning document has also outlined the approaches being considered by House Republicans, such as codifying existing abortion regulations, proposing a 14-week ban that would be "disguised as a 15-week law" because it would allow abortions until the beginning of the 15th week, and a measure that would prohibit abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, before many people know they’re pregnant.

House Republicans have not yet publicly released any such proposed ballot measures.

(The Associated Press contributed to this report.)