Arizona House Passes Pre-Statehood Abortion Ban Repeal

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Rep. Matt Gress, R-Phoenix, takes questions from reporters on abortion. [Photo by Cameron Arcand]

By Cameron Arcand 

Arizona lawmakers in the House of Representatives passed House Bill 2677 on Wednesday afternoon, which would repeal an abortion law that the Arizona Supreme Court said earlier this month could take effect. It now heads to the Senate.

The legislation passed the House 32-28, with Republican Reps. Matt Gress, Justin Wilmeth and Tim Dunn voting in favor. This was the third week motion attempts were made, but this was the first week Dunn and Wilmeth voted with Gress and Democrats on a repeal.

The legislation would take 90 days to go into effect since there is no emergency clause. An emergency clause would have required a 2/3 vote.

Earlier this month, the Arizona Supreme Court ruled 4-2 to lift the stay on a law created in 1864 and reaffirmed in 1977 that only allows abortion only in the event of a mother’s life being at risk. Most Democrats, including Gov. Katie Hobbs and Attorney General Kris Mayes, have asked the legislature to repeal the law and opposed to the court’s decision.

Three Republican lawmakers – Rep. Matt Gress, Sen. Shawnna Bolick and Sen. T.J. Shope – have called for the repeal of the law in favor of the 15-week law currently in effect, which was signed into law by former Gov. Doug Ducey in 2022, just months before Roe v. Wade was overturned. On the Senate side, a bill sponsored by Sen. Anna Hernandez, D-Phoenix, is making its way through the process.

5 Comments

  1. from no abortions to abortion mill – one pass of the pen – harvest the parts for cosmetics and graft – abortion harvesting the new state industry. Their will be a price for this…

  2. Wonder if the hobbit will keep her VETO streak
    Alive with this one since she is not able to think on her
    own and or care what the ‘majority’ which is ‘ so
    Important’ toher

  3. Good job Republicans! Still the stupid party as usual. This shouldn’t take you three weeks to put a law into place your predecessors and our Republican gov already passed 2 yrs ago. All your doing is giving the crazy wing of the D party fuel to rile up the ignorant women of AZ so they’ll show up in droves to vote. This genius strategy is how we ended up with Hobbs, Mayes, Sinema, Kelly etc. Wake up Republicans! The Ds win because they vote in lockstep, Rs lose because they don’t.

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