Arizona Republicans Splinter Over Repeal of 1864 Abortion Ban

The State Senate introduced a bill to repeal a near-total abortion ban dating back to the Civil War, while the House blocked an effort to do so.

The two chambers of Arizona’s State Legislature diverged sharply on Wednesday over whether to repeal the state’s 1864 law banning abortion, capping a chaotic day as legislators and activists sparred over the fate of the Civil War-era ban.

Only hours after Republicans in the State House scuttled another effort to repeal the ban, which was upheld by a State Supreme Court ruling last week, a handful of Republicans in the State Senate sided with Democrats and allowed them to introduce a bill to repeal it.

It will be at least a week before the Senate can vote on the bill, but the matter could be a moot point unless Democrats in the House find a way to get a bill passed there.

The House Republican leadership shows no signs of relenting, despite pressure from prominent Republicans, including former President Donald J. Trump, to toss the ban that many voters viewed as extreme and archaic.

“The last thing we should be doing today is rushing a bill through the legislative process to repeal a law that has been enacted and reaffirmed by the Legislature several times,” House Speaker Ben Toma, a Republican, said as he blocked an effort to vote on the repeal.

In an interview after the Senate advanced the repeal bill, Mr. Toma refused to bow to any outside pressure to change his mind, even from the highest ranks of his own party. He did not see a clear future for that bill, should it arrive in the House, and suggested he would work to prevent it from coming forward for a vote.