After weeks of national outcry and intense political warfare, Katie Hobbs on Thursday signed into law a measure to repeal an 1864 near-total abortion ban that was passed before Arizona even became a state.
The signature of the Democratic Arizona governor is the result of a stunning turn in Arizona politics and the white-hot debate over abortion rights post-Roe v Wade. The 1864 ban, which only permits abortions to save a woman’s life, had long threatened to return to force, but in April the Arizona supreme court ruled the ban could be enforced.
