Lawmakers vote against hearing Arizona bill repealing abortion ban on House floor
CNN
The Republican-controlled Arizona House of Representatives once again failed to advance a repeal of the state’s 160-year-old abortion ban Wednesday, days after the state Supreme Court roiled state politics by reviving the law.
The Republican-controlled Arizona House of Representatives once again failed to advance a repeal of the state’s 160-year-old abortion ban Wednesday, days after the state Supreme Court roiled state politics by reviving the law. Following two attempts to discuss a bill that would repeal Arizona’s 1864 ban on abortions, lawmakers voted not to discuss the measure on the House floor. The representatives’ votes were evenly split, with the chair making the tie-breaking decision. The bill itself was not brought up for a vote. “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 affirmed by the legislature several times,” House Speaker Ben Toma said during debate. If the 1864 ban were repealed, Arizona would revert back to a 15-week abortion restriction signed into law in 2022 by then-Gov. Doug Ducey, a Republican. The law prohibits the procedure except to save the life of the pregnant person and threatens providers with prison sentences between two and five years. The vote is a blow for GOP candidates in competitive races, who have been scrambling to distance themselves from the court’s decision. Republicans facing competitive races in the state, including former President Donald Trump and US Senate candidate Kari Lake, called on the GOP-controlled legislature to work with Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs to take a more moderate path.
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