Democratic Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs signed a bill to repeal a Civil War-era ban on most abortions, marking a significant step towards protecting reproductive health care in the state, Associated Press reports.
The repeal of the 1864 law, recently reinstated by the state Supreme Court, won final legislative approval in a 16-14 vote of the Senate, with two GOP lawmakers joining Democrats. Hobbs condemned the outdated ban, which prohibits all abortions except those done to save a patient’s life, emphasizing that it was passed by 27 men before Arizona was even a state. She expressed relief at the repeal, stating that it was necessary to ensure women’s rights and access to healthcare. The repeal means that a 2002 statute banning abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy will become the state’s prevailing abortion law.
The move to repeal the ban gained momentum after Arizona’s Supreme Court voted to restore it in early April. Democrats, with support from a few Republicans, quickly advanced the repeal legislation to Hobbs’ desk.
