Arizona Republicans Are Divided Over Abortion. For Progressives, This Is a Political Opportunity.

he Arizona Supreme Court resurrected its zombie pre-statehood criminal abortion ban earlier this month, which is slated to go into effect as early as June. In doing so, the Arizona court effectively nullified the state’s 2022 15-week gestational limit ban, claiming it did not “actually create a right to abortion, and therefore did not supersede or modify the territorial law.”

Cloaking the result in arcane rules of statutory construction, the court’s true guiding compass appears to have been Arizona’s fetal personhood statute which confers upon “the unborn child … all rights, privileges and immunities available to other persons.”

A majority of registered voters in Arizona believe abortion should be legal, according to recent polls. The resurrection of this zombie law, which took many by surprise, has sent Republican lawmakers and anti-abortion activists in the state into a strategic tailspin as they seek to stymie widespread outrage over the decision and voters’ potential to transform Arizona into a state that prioritizes reproductive freedom during the November elections.

The U.S. Senate seat left vacant by Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.) presents a crucial race, which Republicans believe may be their best chance to flip the Senate. The race is almost certain to be between Democratic hopeful Ruben Gallego and far-right Republican nominee Kari Lake. When Lake was running for governor of Arizona in 2022, TIME magazine characterized her as the “new face of the MAGA right,” and more recently, she told supporters we “are going to put on the armor of God [and] maybe strap on a Glock on the side of us, just in case.”




https://msmagazine.com/2024/04/22/arizona-republicans-abortion/