Arizona’s Senate has repealed the state's 1864 abortion ban.
The bill now heads to Governor Katie Hobbs whose signature will erase the ruling of the state’s GOP-packed Supreme Court, which restored the Confederacy-era restriction in April.
This is big news. But the huge news is that we cannot let up, at all.
That’s what we learned when we spoke to Arizona State Senator Eva Burch on this week’s “How are you feeling about democracy?”
You may remember when she made history in March by announcing her plan to have an abortion from the floor of Arizona’s State Senate.
She gave us some invaluable context to understand what caused Republicans to back away from a full abortion ban they’ve been plotting for years, if not decades.
1. Because not enough Republicans backed the repeal, it didn’t pass with a supermajority. That means it won’t go into effect for 90 days, leaving the potential for a window of time when the ban will be in effect.
2. The state still has a 15-week abortion ban and numerous unnecessary and abusive restrictions on reproductive freedom.
3. Republicans only did this to try to help Donald Trump win the state because they know that electing Trump will effectively mean abortion is banned nationally.
4. The plan is still and always will be to bring back the 1864 ban, as Senator Burch told us in the video above.
The full interview with Senator Burch is coming on Thursday. But we wanted to make sure that you had as much of the story as possible as soon as possible. Because this is a remarkable development, and it’s crucial that people understand that Republicans aren’t ceding anything. They’re calculating for maximum power and a national abortion ban that the press won’t call an abortion ban.
That’s why we want to add a bit of our own news.
We set a $2,024 goal for our Flipping Arizona Giving Circle, supporting Democrats in key races to help Democrats pick up the four seats needed to flip both state houses.
In our irrational exuberance on news of the repeal and for the many reasons laid out here, we’ve decided that we have to do far more to help rebuild democracy in Arizona.
That’s why we’ve raised our goal to $20,024. We hope you’ll join this. Please feel free to make this Giving Circle your own and invite your loved ones to join this effort. Or start your own Giving Circle. We honestly believe there is no more effective way to do all you can to survive 2024 with the fewest possible regrets.
Thanks for your support and for being a source of news and inspiration to the people you care about most.
Huge news from Arizona