The GOP-led Arizona House of Representatives on Wednesday again blocked an effort to repeal the 1864 abortion ban recently reinstated by the state Supreme Court.
“The motion to overrule my ruling fails,” Speaker Pro Tempore Travis Grantham, a Republican representing Gilbert, announced as the House voted down a motion to even debate a repeal of the Civil War-era law.
“Without objection, the House stands at recess,” Grantham said, gaveling out the session.
At that moment, anti-abortion activists in the gallery began applauding and cheering. Several anti-abortion Republican lawmakers acknowledged them by applauding them back and victoriously lifting their arms in the air.
“There are so many people who are watching right now and watching what Arizona is doing,” State Rep. Alma Hernandez, a Democrat representing Tucson, said prior to the completion of the vote. “The fact that we will not even entertain a motion to allow those who have been raped or pregnant by incest to be able to have an abortion is extremely, extremely disappointing.”
