By Dave Andrusko
Arizona’s new 15 week ban on abortion, modeled on Mississippi’s law which the Supreme Court will rule on this summer, is now on Republican Gov. Doug Ducey’s desk. The vote was close and strictly along party lines. On Thursday, the state’s House passed Senate Bill 1164, 31-26, and last month the Senate passed the measure 16-13.
“The bill explicitly says it does not overrule a state law in place for more than 100 years that would ban abortion outright if the Supreme Court overrules Roe v. Wade, the 1973 case that enshrined the right to abortion in law,” Bob Christie of the Associated Press reported.
When the bill was in the Senate, State Sen. Nancy Barto “said she believed the U.S. Supreme Court would overturn the nearly 50-year-old precedent set in Roe v. Wade that allowed abortions, as some expect it could do in the Mississippi case,” Stacey Barchenger reported. “We’re hoping,” Barto said. “But copying Mississippi’s law in the meantime would ‘give us an opportunity in Arizona to protect more unborn lives,’ she said” [https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/gop-controlled-arizona-senate-passes-15-week-abortion-ban-rcna16432]. She added, “The state has an obligation to protect life, and that is what this bill is about.”
Democrats blasted the bill. “The anti-choice, anti-freedom agenda behind these extreme bans is out of touch with the will of the overwhelming majority of Americans who support the right to abortion,” the party tweeted.
Senate Bill 1164 states that “medical professionals who intentionally or knowingly perform an abortion on a pregnant person after 15 weeks of fetus gestation could face felony charges and potentially lose their medical license,” Jennifer Calfas reported.