Arizona Republicans block repeal of 1864 abortion ban for second time

Arizona House Republicans have blocked an effort to repeal the state’s 1864 near-total abortion ban for a second time.

The Arizona Supreme Court ruled last week to uphold the state’s Civil War-era abortion ban, wiping out all access to abortion with the only exception being to save the life of the mother.

Now, women across the state have little to no access to abortion care and doctors who perform the procedure could be fined or sent to prison for between two and five years.

Many voters, including some Republicans, argue that the law isantiquated and an extreme restriction on the rights of women.

Even the Republican party’s presumptive presidential nominee former president Donald Trump has called for a more moderate solution to the ban, saying it has gone “too far”.

But, two efforts have now failed to repeal the ban in the state legislature – a move which would have returned Arizona to a 15-week ban.

The first repeal effort was blocked last week.

Then, on Wednesday, Democratic State Rep Stephanie Stahl Hamilton brought forward a bill to repeal the ban on the state House floor.

Republicans blocked the vote from even taking place, citing procedural grounds. Republicans did however allow a vote on whether the action to block it was correct, the Arizona Republic noted.

The Republican speaker of the Arizona state house Ben Toma said on Wednesday that “the last thing we should be doing today is rushing a bill through the legislative process to repeal a law that has been enacted and reaffirmed by the Legislature several times,” according to The New York Times.

Republicans only have a one-seat majority in the lower chamber in the state, meaning that only two Republicans would have needed to join Democrats for the repeal