Abortion access in Arizona has varied wildly over the last two years, but reproductive rights seem to be heading in a positive direction this year. The multi-year battle over a Civil War-era abortion ban has ended, and the Arizona for Abortion Access coalition has successfully placed a constitutional amendment adding a right to abortion on the November ballot.
Arizona currently has a ban on abortions after 15 weeks with exceptions in cases of medical emergencies, defined as threatening the life or “substantial and permanent” physical harm to the parent. There are no exceptions for rape or incest. The law was passed by Republicans along party lines a few months before Dobbs overturned Roe v Wade. It was signed into law by former Republican Governor Doug Ducey shortly after. Similar legislation may soon be considered by conservatives at the federal level, based on Project 2025’s call for the next conservative president to “enact the strongest federal restrictions on abortion access that Congress will pass.”
After the Dobbs decision, former Republican Attorney General Mark Brnovich moved to lift a Roe-era injunction against an 1864 law banning abortion. A judge ruled that the law, which banned abortion from conception with no exceptions except to save the life of the parent, could go back into effect.
The case made its way to the Republican-controlled Arizona Supreme Court. They affirmed the law this year, but the new Attorney General, Democrat Kris Mayes, said she would not enforce it. Democrats in the Arizona legislature responded by attempting to force votes to repeal the law, which was passed before Arizona became a state, but were stopped by Republican officials at first.
House Republicans blocked the first two attempts to repeal the 1864 ban by voting to go into recess, then voting to adjourn for a week rather than allowing a vote on the ban. When the House reconvened a week later, Democrats forced four votes to repeal the ban, each time resulting in a tied 30-30 vote; just one Republican joined the Democrats in voting to repeal the ban. Three Republicans joined all 29 Democrats to repeal the law on April 24, two weeks after the Arizona Supreme Court upheld the ban.
Senate Republicans similarly blocked the first attempts to repeal the 1864 ban, with Republican Senate President Warren Petersen moving to adjourn rather than allowing Democrats to add an amendment repealing the ban to existing bills. One week after the House passed their repeal, two Republican senators joined all 14 Democrats in passing a bill repealing the ban, which was quickly signed into law by Democratic Governor Katie Hobbs.
At the same time, a citizen initiative has placed a constitutional amendment on the November ballot that would add a right to abortion care in Arizona. The Arizona secretary of state certified nearly 578,000 signatures – a record number for ballot initiatives in the state – and confirmed they would put the initiative on the November ballot.
Republicans in the Arizona legislature considered several strategies to thwart the pro-abortion initiative, including putting other abortion initiatives on the ballot to try to split the vote. Instead, they put another proposal on the November ballot, which, if passed, would make it nearly impossible for citizens to amend the state constitution in the future.
A Republican-controlled legislative committee also used the language “unborn human being” instead of “fetus” when describing the pro-abortion ballot initiative in official voter pamphlets, leading Arizona for Abortion Access to sue in an attempt to change that phrase. The Arizona Supreme Court ruled against Arizona for Abortion Access in this case.
An anti-abortion group also sued over the language describing the ballot initiative, though they asked the courts to remove the proposed amendment from the ballot entirely, arguing the description would mislead voters about the effect of the amendment. The Arizona Supreme Court ruled in favor of Arizona for Abortion Access this time, citing the previous case several times in their reasoning. The pro-abortion amendment remains on the November ballot.