'The damage is done': Ruben Gallego says repealing Arizona's near-total abortion ban now would be too little, too late

PHOENIX — Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego argued this week that a potential repeal of Arizona’s 1864 abortion law is not a viable long-term solution to secure abortion rights for the women of Arizona.

“The damage is done,” Gallego told NBC News of a possible repeal of the 1864 ban, which the state’s Supreme Court ruled last week was enforceable, effectively banning the procedure statewide.

“Any initiative they pass right now wouldn’t even take effect for quite a while,” he added.

Gallego, who is running for Senate this year, also pointed out that a repeal of the 1864 near-total ban, which makes exceptions for medical emergencies but not for rape or incest, could be reversed by future state legislatures.

“To make matters worse, it could just get overturned later by another state House or state Senate,” Gallego said.

“The only protection we really, really have is to codify this and put this on the ballot and enshrine Roe and protect abortion rights,” he said.

Gallego argued a repeal through the state is just the first step in rectifying what he sees as injustice. “They just need to put the bill on the floor, overturn this and codify Roe, which you can do right now at the state level,” he said of what Republicans in the Legislature should do next in the wake of the 1864 ban.

Gallego made the comments Friday, just hours after rallying with Vice President Kamala Harris on the issue of securing abortion rights.

Under Arizona’s constitution, a new law wouldn’t take effect until 90 days after the Legislature adjourns.

A law could take effect immediately upon Gov. Katie Hobbs’ signature if it were deemed emergency legislation, but with both chambers of the Arizona Legislature controlled by Republicans, that is unlikely — meaning a