With a stroke of a pen on Thursday, Gov. Katie Hobbs struck down a 160-year-old near-total abortion ban.
Just a day earlier, Democrats in the state Senate succeeded in peeling away enough Republican votes to repeal an abortion ban first passed in 1864, while Arizona was still a territory. The push to repeal it came after the state Supreme Court ruled it was once again enforceable, and Hobbs’ signature ended weeks of turmoil as the Republican-majority legislature grappled with the political fallout.
“Today, we are doing what 23 governors and 55 legislatures refused to do and I am so proud to be the ones that got this job done,” she said shortly before signing the bill, referring to the number of governors before her and previous legislatures.
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The Democrat, who made a campaign promise to repeal the 1864 law and was a vocal supporter of the movement to do so this month, said the threat of the law’s reimplementation had sparked concern across the state.
“I’ve heard from doctors who were unsure if they would wind up in a jail cell for