The signing of the repeal of the abortion law by the governor of Arizona follows the political fight of the legislators

PHOENIX (AP) — Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs signature of the repeal The Civil War-era ban on nearly all abortions was a poignant occasion for women working to ensure that the 19th-century law remained a thing of the past.

Current and former state legislators and reproductive rights advocates crowded into the ninth-floor rotunda outside Hobbs’ office Thursday afternoon, hugging and taking selfies to capture the moment. Some cried.

“It’s a historic moment, and it’s a place and a time where exciting moments come together,” Democratic Rep. Stephanie Stahl Hamilton said during the signing ceremony. “It is a moment in which we are putting an end to what is in the past that does not adapt to the present.”

Stahl and Sen. Anna Hernandez, also a Democrat, were the two current lawmakers chosen to speak at the ceremony for their efforts to secure the repeal of the long-dormant law banning all abortions except those performed to save a patient’s life. .

The effort received final legislative approval on Wednesday in a 16-14 vote in the Senate, when two Republican lawmakers joined Democrats for a roughly three-hour session in which motivations for voting were described in personal, emotional and even biblical terms. There were graphic descriptions of abortion procedures and amplified audio of fetal heartbeats, along with warnings against “legislating religious beliefs.”

Abortion ban advocates in the Senate gallery booed Republican state Sen. Shawnna Bolick as she explained her vote for the repeal, then she was scolded by Republican colleagues. Bolick is married to state Supreme Court Justice Clint Bolick, who voted with the majority in April to restore the 1864 law. She faces a retention election in November.

The House previously approved the repeal, and three Republicans in that chamber broke ranks.

Hobbs says the measure is just the beginning of a fight to protect reproductive health care in Arizona. The repeal will take effect 90 days after the legislative session ends, which is typically June or July once the budget is passed.

“This means everything to get this archaic and inhumane land law off the books,” said Dr. Gabrielle Goodrick, founder of Phoenix-based Camelback Family Planning, which performs a third of abortions in Arizona.

A 2022 statute banning the procedure after 15 weeks of pregnancy will become the current abortion law in Arizona.

Abortion rights advocates, led by Planned Parenthood Arizona, have filed a motion with the state Supreme Court to prevent the 1846 law from taking effect before its repeal does. If rejected, girls and women could see a pause in abortion services.

The 19th century law had been blocked in Arizona since 1973 with the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Roe v. Wade that guaranteed the constitutional right to abortion throughout the country. When the federal law was repealed in 2022, it left Arizona in legal limbo.

Last month, the Arizona Supreme Court set the state back decades and reinstated the ban that makes no exceptions for survivors of rape or incest. The judges suggested doctors could be prosecuted for violating the law, with a maximum penalty of five years in prison if convicted.

The anti-abortion group defending the ban, Alliance Defending Freedom, maintains that county prosecutors can begin enforcing it once the Supreme Court’s decision is final, which has not yet happened. Democratic Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes is making efforts to delay enforcement of the ban until the end of July.

Meanwhile, abortion rights advocates are collecting signatures to enshrine reproductive rights in Arizona’s constitution. TO proposed ballot measure would allow abortions until the fetus could survive outside the womb, usually about 24 weeks, with exceptions to save the life of the parents or protect their physical or mental health.

Republican lawmakers are considering putting one or more competing abortion proposals before voters in November.

Elsewhere in the United States this week, supporters of an abortion rights initiative in South Dakota introduced more signatures than required to go to the polls this fall, while in Florida a ban went into effect against most abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, before many people even know they are pregnant.

President Joe Biden’s campaign team believes anger over the downfall of Roe v. Wade will give them a political advantage in battleground states like Arizona, while the issue has divided Republican leaders.

For the Democratic women who led the repeal effort in Arizona, Thursday was a moment of celebration but also showed that there is more work to be done, they said.

In an interview before the signing ceremony, Stahl Hamilton spoke about her early years on the Navajo Nation, where her parents were school teachers and where federally funded clinics still limit abortion services.

She spoke of a sister-in-law who she said struggled with two difficult pregnancies, one that resulted in a stillbirth and another unviable one in which “they had to make the heartbreaking decision to terminate that pregnancy, because there was no brain development. “

“And I imagine if any of these laws had been in place during the time that she needed care, it really would have wreaked havoc,” Stahl Hamilton said.

When the Civil War-era ban was passed, all 27 lawmakers were men, the United States was at war over the right to own slaves and women couldn’t vote, Hobbs said. Now, the Arizona Legislature is roughly evenly divided between men and women.

Hernández became involved in politics after her younger brother, Alejandro, was killed in a police shooting in April 2019. She and her two other brothers have tattoos of his portrait on their left arms.

Her sister is a labor and delivery nurse, and she has two nieces, ages 16 and 12, she said.

“Right now, I think about them being able to grow up in the state that we love so much, having the rights that they have,” he said.

Former Democratic state Rep. Athena Salman was so overcome with emotion Thursday that she could barely speak when she was called to the podium at the signing ceremony. She proposed repealing the 19th century law in 2019, three years before Roe v. was overturned. Wade.

Salman, who resigned in January to lead a pro-abortion group, said he can’t stop thinking about his daughters.

“Future generations will not have to live under the restrictions and interference that we have had to experience,” he said. ___

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