Arizona’s Republican-majority state Legislature voted Wednesday to repeal the almost-complete ban on abortions that’s been on the books since 1864.
Three Republicans joined the chamber’s Democrats to scrap the Civil War-era law, which bans abortions from the point of conception, with exceptions for the life of the mother. It was the state House’s third attempt at undoing the law, which the state Supreme Court ruled was enforceable in early April.
The bill now goes to the state’s Republican-majority Senate. If it passes, the earliest it can be sent to the governor’s desk is next week. Arizona also has a 2022 law that bans abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy, with an exception for the life of the mother.