The Arizona House of Representatives voted to repeal a 1864 ban on nearly all abortions Wednesday. The move comes two weeks after the state Supreme Court ruled that the state can enforce the Civil War-era abortion ban, in which the only exception is to save the mother’s life.
The repeal, House Bill 2677, now moves to the state Senate, which is expected to approve and send the bill to Gov. Katie Hobbs for signing.
Repealing the near-total ban would return the state to allow abortions up to 15 weeks.
The bill passed 32–28, with three Republicans — state Reps. Tim Dunn, R-Yuma, Justin Wilmeth, R-Phoenix, and Rep. Matt Gress, R-Phoenix — joining the Democrats to approve the repeal.
Stephanie Stahl Hamilton, D-Tucson, said the move was “a very simple matter.”
“The people of Arizona are waiting for us to get this done,” she said.
Last week House Republicans blocked the move to repeal the law. Travis Grantham, R-Pinal County, who is the speaker pro tempore said that today’s move “breaks my heart” and that he’s “proud of my Republican caucus that has fought this off as long as it has.”
Gress, one of the Republicans who voted for the repeal, previously said he wanted to “return to the more reasonable 15-week policy that protects women and new life.”
In a statement posted to X after today’s vote, Gress called the 1864 law “unworkable and out of line with the values of Arizonans.” He urged the state senate to take up the matter quickly.
“Good to know we are out of the 19th century,” House Democrats announced on X.
But even if Hobbs signs the bill, the nearly full ban still may temporarily take effect. Since any repeal wouldn’t be complete until 90 days after the legislative session ends, there could be a period in which almost all abortions are outlawed in the state.
Meanwhile, as signatures are still being collected to put a state constitutional amendment protecting abortion rights on the ballot in November, Republicans are considering their own ballot measures to further restrict abortion access.
About 11,400 people received an abortion in Arizona in 2022, according to the Arizona Department of Health Services 2022 Abortion Report data.
From 2021 to 2022, the year the Supreme Court overturned the federal right to abortion, the number of Arizona resident abortions dropped 18% — the steepest decrease in at least a decade. About half of Arizona abortions were done via medication and half via surgical procedure.
The battle over abortion is expected to draw voters to the polls in the presidential and state elections this year.
Noble Predictive Insights surveyed 1,002 registered Arizona voters in February 2024, and found that 90% of respondents said abortion should be legal in some form and 81% said a candidate’s stance on abortion is moderately to very impactful on their vote.
Another poll by the Public Religion Research Institute of an estimated 20,000 voters nationwide in 2022 showed only 7% of Arizonans think abortion should be illegal in all cases.
Abortion on the ballot
Groups are gathering signatures to put questions about abortion access to voters this year.
• The Arizona Abortion Access initiative would add a fundamental right to abortion to the Arizona Constitution. Read the full text.
To get on the ballot, Arizona for Abortion Access needs at least 383,923 valid signatures by the July 4 deadline. The group has been collecting signatures since September and said earlier this month that it has more than 500,000 signatures collected so far. Get information about signing the petition.
• The It Goes Too Far campaign is the main group opposing this ballot initiative. Learn more.
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