Arizona repeals Civil War-era abortion ban ahead of 2024 vote

Arizona has repealed the state’s near-total abortion ban after Gov. Katie Hobbs signed a bill into law Thursday in advance of the 2024 election and potential referendum vote that could enshrine abortion rights into its constitution.  

Hobbs signedHouse Bill 2677 into law as supporters of the measure gathered around her desk.

“Today, we did what 23 governors and 55 legislatures refused to do and repealed the 1864 Civil War-era total abortion ban,” she wrote.

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“I will do everything in my power to protect our reproductive freedoms, because I trust women to make the decisions that are best for them, and know politicians do not belong in the doctor’s office,” Hobbs vowed.

Today, we did what 23 governors and 55 legislatures refused to do and repealed the 1864 Civil War-era total abortion ban.

I will do everything in my power to protect our reproductive freedoms, because I trust women to make the decisions that are best for them, and know… pic.twitter.com/32LMZBICnU

— Governor Katie Hobbs (@GovernorHobbs) May 2, 2024

The near-total abortion restriction that House Bill 2677 will repeal prohibits abortions throughout all nine months of pregnancy with exceptions in cases where the life of the mother is in danger.

The Republican-controlled Arizona House of Representatives and the Republican-controlled Arizona Senate passed the legislation in the weeks following the Arizona Supreme Court’s decision to uphold the abortion ban that dates back to before Arizona’s admission to the United States as the 48th state.

In the Arizona House of Representatives, three Republicans joined all Democrats in voting to repeal the near-total abortion ban, while two Senate Republicans broke with their party to support the legislation. 

After the repeal takes effect, the 15-week abortion ban signed into law by Republican former Gov. Doug Ducey in 2022 will become the law of the land as it pertains to abortion in Arizona. 

The ACLU of Arizona, which supported the repeal of the ban, called for “further court intervention,” complaining that “access to abortion may be lost after June 27.”

“This cruel law will not be repealed until 90 days AFTER the legislative session ends,” the group stated on social media Thursday.

“Once lifted, people who need abortions will still face other bans.”

Since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2022 that the U.S. Constitution doesn’t contain a right to abortion and overturned previous case law in favor of abortion access, many state laws banning abortion or restricting them to the earliest parts of pregnancy have been challenged in court. 

In a post on her personal X account, Hobbs noted that the bill’s signing fell on the second anniversary of the publication of the leaked Supreme Court draft decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which led to a wave of violence and vandalism directed at churches and pro-life advocacy groups.

The Dobbsruling was released a month and a half later and resulted in states charting divergent paths on abortion policy. 

In Arizona’s case, the decades-old abortion ban left unenforceable by the 1973 Roe v. Wade U.S. Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion nationwide could take effect, although it faced a court challenge. The Arizona Supreme Court ruled last month that since Dobbs overturned Roe, the law could go into effect. 

Arizona voters will weigh in this November on a proposed constitutional amendment that would establish a right to abortion in the state constitution. If voters approve the Arizona Abortion Access Act in November, the state would join California, Michigan, Vermont and Ohio as states where a constitutional right to abortion has been established by popular vote since the Dobbs decision.