Legislators in Arizona’s upper house voted Wednesday to repeal an 1864 law banning abortion, a month after the state’s supreme court said the Civil War-era rule was valid.
The turnaround was the latest development in the fraught US abortion debate, which is expected to play a huge role in this year’s presidential election, a likely rematch between President Joe Biden and Donald Trump.
“I’m glad to see the Senate answered my call and voted to repeal the 1864 total abortion ban,” the state’s Democratic Governor Katie Hobbs wrote on social media.
“While this is essential to protecting women’s health, it is just the beginning. I will never stop fighting for women’s reproductive freedoms.”
The western state jumped headlong into the divisive abortion rights debate last month when its supreme court ruled a hitherto obscure 160-year-old law was enforceable.
