Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs of Arizona signed a bill Thursday repealing a law adopted in 1864 that made performing an abortion a felony offense, according to the Associated Press.
Republicans joined Democrats in both state houses to pass the bill after the state Supreme Court ruled in April that the law should be allowed to go into effect. Hobbs applauded state senators Wednesday for passing the bill and signed it into law the following day, pushing the state’s abortion ban back to 15 weeks of pregnancy, according to the AP. (RELATED: Justice Alito Asks Biden DOJ Point-Blank Why Statute Gov Argues Requires Abortion Uses The Phrase ‘Unborn Child’)
“I’ve heard from doctors who were unsure if they would wind up in a jail cell for simply doing their job, women who told me they didn’t know if it was safe to start a family here in Arizona,” Hobbs said at the signing ceremony, according to NBC News.. “These excruciating conversations are exactly why I have made one thing clear, very clear: This ban needs to be repealed.”
With the stroke of my pen, the 1864 abortion ban is about to OFFICIALLY become a thing of the past.
— Katie Hobbs (@katiehobbs) May 2, 2024
The bill will likely not take effect until 90 days after Hobb’s signature, according to the AP. The law could be halted sooner, however, as Democratic Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes asked the state Supreme Court again in April to block the enforcement of the law.
Prominent Republicans came out in opposition to the state Supreme Court’s decision, with former President Donald Trump saying that the ruling went too far.
Abortion advocates are pushing a proposal that would amend the state’s constitution to include abortion as a right, according to NBC News. The group behind the effort, Arizona Abortion Access, said in early April that they had collected the needed 383,923 signatures to get the proposal on the ballot this November.
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