Arizona Legislature Defeats Measure to Repeal Pro-Life Law Protecting Babies From Abortions

The Arizona legislature has defeated a measure to that would repeal the state’s abortion ban that protect women and unborn babies.

On Wednesday, following two attempts to bring up the pro-abortion bill that would repeal the ban and allow killing babies in abortions.

“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 affirmed by the legislature several times,” House Speaker Ben Toma said during debate.

Had the ban bene repealed, babies would lot almost all protection in the state. A 15-week abortion ban would go into p-lace that only allows protecting babies up to that point – meaning 90% of more abortions would become legal.

The pro-life group Center for Arizona Policy celebrated the vote.

“All but one AZ pro-life representative kept their word today and stood for the unborn & women! The attempt to repeal the pre-Roe law limiting abortion to when the women’s life is at risk failed to make it to the floor. Thank you @RepBenToma and all lawmakers who stood for life,” it said on X (Twitter).

Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Counsel Jake Warner also applauded the vote in an email to LifeNews:

“Life is a human right, and the Arizona Legislature has again reaffirmed that fundamental right. Life begins at conception. At just six weeks, unborn babies’ hearts begin to beat. At eight weeks, they have fingers and toes. And at 10 weeks, their unique fingerprints begin to form. Arizona’s pro-life law has protected unborn children for more than 100 years, and the people of Arizona, through their elected representatives, have repeatedly affirmed that law, as they did again today. We commend the Arizona Legislature for protecting the lives of countless, innocent, unborn children.”

Arizona Democrats are campaigning on abortion and hoping to use the vote to capture the legislature and pass a bill to force abortions up to birth on the state.

The Arizona Supreme Court ruled Tuesday to uphold the state’s pro-life law as written by overturning a lower court decision that misinterpreted the law.

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“We conclude that [Arizona’s law] does not create a right to, or otherwise provide independent statutory authority for, an abortion that repeals or restricts [the law], but rather is predicated entirely on the existence of a federal constitutional right to an abortion since disclaimed by Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization,” the court wrote in its opinion in Planned Parenthood Arizona v. Mayes. “Absent the federal constitutional abortion right, and because [the law] does not independently authorize abortion, there is no provision in federal or state law prohibiting [the law’s] operation. Accordingly, [Arizona’s law] is now enforceable.”

After the Arizona Supreme Court upheld the state’s abortion ban, one of the big attacks against it is that the 1864 law supposedly doesn’t represent the will of the people and is antiquated. Trump referred to that in his post.

But that contention is not true.

First, the judges on the Arizona Supreme Court represent the people. The seven justices on the state’s highest court are initially appointed by the governor to serve. They then stand for a retention vote for regular terms of six years and that is a ballot vote cast by Arizona voters. As a result, the justices represent the people via electing the governor and electing them directly.

Secondly, the law was affirmed twice after it was initially approved in 1864. As CatholicVote notes in an article:

The over century-and-a-half-old law is set to replace the state’s existing pro-life law which only protects most unborn children after 15 weeks gestation.

Republican then Gov. Doug Ducey signed the significantly weaker legislation into law in March 2022. Less than three months later, the U.S. Supreme Court decided Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization overturning Roe v. Wade.

The Arizona Supreme Court held that the 2022 law “is predicated entirely on the existence of a federal constitutional right to an abortion since disclaimed” by the Dobbs decision.

Axios reported that “[a] provision of the 2022 law had affirmed it wasn’t repealing the 19th-century law.”

FOX News noted that the 1864 law “was codified in 1913 after Arizona became a state” and “includes an exception in cases where the mother’s life is at risk.”

Planned Parenthood was challenging the potential reinstatement of the state’s near-total abortion ban from 1864, which has exceptions for life-threatening emergencies, but had been blocked by 1973 Roe v. Wade decision. The Dobbs ruling should allow it to go into effect but the nation’s biggest abortion business challenged it.

Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys represented Dr. Eric Hazelrigg, an obstetrician and medical director of Choices Pregnancy Center in Arizona, who filed a petition last March asking the state’s high court to review an Arizona Court of Appeals ruling.

The appellate court’s ruling misinterpreted state law, against its plain meaning, to allow abortion in circumstances where the Arizona Legislature prohibited it. It also enjoined officials from fully enforcing the state’s pro-life law to protect unborn children. The Arizona Supreme Court reversed this ruling, allowing the law to be enforced as written.

“Life is a human right, and today’s decision allows the state to respect that right and fully protect life again—just as the legislature intended,” said ADF Senior Counsel Jake Warner, who argued before the court. “Life begins at conception. At just six weeks, unborn babies’ hearts begin to beat. At eight weeks, they have fingers and toes. And at 10 weeks, their unique fingerprints begin to form. Arizona’s pro-life law has protected unborn children for over 100 years, and the people of Arizona, through their elected representatives, have repeatedly affirmed that law, including as recently as 2022. We celebrate the Arizona Supreme Court’s decision that allows the state’s pro-life law to again protect the lives of countless, innocent unborn children.”

In September 2022, the Arizona Superior Court in Pima County appointed Dr. Hazelrigg as the substitute guardian ad litem to legally represent the best interests of unborn children in Arizona, a role Arizona courts have recognized for over 50 years.

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