Arizona Republicans Block Another Push to Repeal Abortion Ban

PHOENIX—Republicans in the Arizona state House blocked two attempts Wednesday to repeal the state’s 160-year-old near total ban on abortion, despite mounting pressure on the GOP—including from former President Donald Trump—to change course on the hot-button issue.

But later in the day, two Senate Republicans joined with Democrats—enough to create a majority—to move forward on their version of a repeal. The chamber may not be able to vote on final passage Wednesday. If the Senate does repeal the ban, the measure would go back to the House, where it would still face a difficult path.

Democrats had been hopeful that a small number of Republicans would join with them in both chambers forcing a vote to overturn the law, which is expected to go into effect in early summer. However, in the House, just one Republican ended up joining with Democrats in a failed effort to overcome a GOP blockade of the measure, even as the political reality of having one of the strictest abortion bans in the country set in.

The earlier votes took place as antiabortion and abortion access advocates filled the House.

Arizona has become ground zero in the fight for abortion access after the state Supreme Court reinstated a 160-year-old law earlier this month banning nearly all abortions. The ruling has given some momentum to Democrats in a state that could decide the White House and both chambers of Congress.

Abortion in Arizona has been allowed through 15 weeks of pregnancy under a law the GOP-controlled state legislature passed in 2022. The state’s high court said in its April 9 decision that the recent law doesn’t override one dating to 1864—before Arizona was a state—that banned abortion throughout pregnancy except in lifesaving situations.

“I would ask everyone in this chamber to respect the fact that some of us…believe that abortion is in fact the murder of children,” Speaker Ben Toma, a Republican, said on the House floor.

Rep. Alma Hernandez, a Democrat, responded: “The fact that we will not even entertain a motion to allow those who have been raped or pregnant by incest to be able to have an abortion is extremely, extremely disappointing.”

Polling shows the majority of Americans and Arizonans aren’t aligned with Republicans on abortion. A Wall Street Journal poll from March found Arizona voters were most likely to say that they wouldn’t support a candidate they disagreed with on abortion. In the poll, which was conducted before the Arizona ruling, the majority of voters there said they supported access to the procedure—and more voters said they backed President Biden’s approach than that of Trump, the presumptive GOP presidential candidate.

In a sign of the political ramifications of the decision, Trump and Kari Lake, the expected GOP Senate candidate, both said the outright ban goes too far and called on the legislature to remove it. Both have previously said they oppose abortion. Trump has touted his nomination of three justices to the U.S. Supreme Court who helped overturn Roe v. Wade, and Lake had praised the ban. In recent days, Lake has called some GOP lawmakers and urged them to vote to roll back the measure and offered them support for doing so, a person familiar with the matter said.

Abortion-rights groups have been gathering signatures to put a measure on the ballot in November that would expand access to abortion until fetal viability, or about halfway through a typical pregnancy. The coalition of groups has said they already have more than enough signatures to get on the ballot. Democrats are hopeful that in addition to passing, it will help voters turn out for their candidates in November.

An effort last week to repeal the 1864 law by Rep. Matt Gress, who represents a competitive seat, was quashed by GOP lawmakers. Gress was the only Republican to cross party lines Wednesday in the House. In the Senate, Republicans Shawnna Bolick—who is married to one of the high court judges who voted to put in place the ban—and T.J. Shope joined with Democrats.

All three along with several other Republican lawmakers are top targets for Democrats in this year’s election. Democrats believe the GOP majority is particularly vulnerable on this issue and Republicans’ refusal to repeal the ban puts their fragile majority in play.

The GOP is fractured on this issue because some members of its base oppose abortion, and members who represent conservative districts face pressure to hold strong in support of the ban.

Alternative proposals, presented by the House GOP counsel during a virtual meeting with Republicans on Monday, offered the party other options to address the total ban.

The strategy memo, reviewed by The Wall Street Journal, offered several suggestions for how the Arizona legislature could deal with the issue, including offering additional ballot measures, aimed at undermining the viability ballot measure’s chance of passage.

One of the proposed options would be titled something related to a 15-week measure but was described in the GOP memo as “a 14-week law disguised as a 15-week law because it would only allow abortion until the beginning of the 15th week.” Another option would allow an abortion until the sixth week of pregnancy, with some exceptions after the limit. There was also a proposed ballot initiative that would only take effect if the viability measure was passed and would still allow lawmakers to regulate abortion access.

“This shows yet again why Arizonans can’t leave our most basic and personal rights in the hands of politicians,” Dawn Penich, a spokesperson for the abortion-access ballot initiative, said in response to the leaked presentation.

Laura Kusisto contributed to this article.

Write to Eliza Collins at [email protected]