Dear John,
Arizona is what you get when you “leave it to the states” to set abortion laws: the Arizona Supreme Court decided to wind back the clock to the 19th century and resurrect an 1864 (pre-statehood, and pre-women’s right to vote!) ban on abortion with no exceptions for rape, incest or health. The only exception is when a woman is close to death.
The law did not immediately go into effect—the Court’s ruling is temporarily on hold for two weeks while a lower court hears further arguments, and there is an additional 45-day delay before enforcement.
Abortion providers in the state, hoping for an emergency legislative intervention, vowed to continue providing abortions until they are forced to stop. But such hopes are shaky. When the Arizona House met Wednesday night, Democrats and at least one Republican attempted to open discussion on a repeal of the 1864 abortion ban—but Republican leadership quickly cut off the discussion and adjourned the session for the week, to chants of “Shame! Shame!” from the outraged Democrats.
“We’ve got the eyes of the world watching Arizona right now,” said Democratic state Rep. Stephanie Stahl Hamilton of Tucson Wednesday night, per AP. “We know that the Supreme Court decision yesterday is extreme. And we know that should the 1864 ban on abortion remain a law in Arizona, people will die.” Fortunately, the state’s Democratic Attorney General, as well as a number of prosecutors and sheriffs in the state have vowed to not enforce the law.
Abortion rights advocates in the state say they have obtained the signatures needed to place a measure on the November ballot that, if passed, would enshrine the right to abortion in the state’s constitution. Such measures have proved overwhelmingly popular when put forward in other states: Michigan, Kansas, California and Ohio have all passed similar proposals with overwhelming majorities.
In battleground states like Arizona, abortion could be a deciding issue in this fall’s presidential and congressional elections. And in states where abortion rights have been rolled back, the federal Equal Rights Amendment—if added to the constitution—offers a path forward for restoring reproductive rights. In Nevada and Pennsylvania, advocates have successfully argued that state Equal Rights Amendments can be used to defend Medicaid funding for abortions. If state-level ERAs can do this much, imagine the power of a successfully implemented federal ERA!
Fortunately for people in Arizona and across the country, women do now have the right to vote—and we intend to use it.
Onward,
