The repeal of abortion ban was passed 16 to 14 and is expected to be signed into law by Governor Katie Hobbs.

The Arizona Senate has voted to repeal the state’s 1864 ban on abortion, which would otherwise have taken effect within weeks.

The repeal was passed by the Senate in a 16-14 vote on Wednesday and is expected to be signed swiftly by Governor Katie Hobbs, a Democrat. Two Republican senators crossed party lines to vote in favour of repealing the ban.

The Arizona House last week passed the measure after a handful of Republicans broke party ranks and voted with Democrats to send it to the Senate.

“We’re here to repeal a bad law,” Senator Eva Burch, a Democrat, said from the floor. “I don’t want us honouring laws about women, written during a time when women were forbidden from voting.”

Republican Senator Wendy Rogers said in casting her vote to maintain the 1864 ban that repealing the law went against the conservative values of Arizona.

“Life starts at conception. They got it right in 1864. We need to continue to get it right in 2024,” Rogers said.

The fight over the Civil War-era abortion ban in Arizona, a state sharply split between Democrats and Republicans, is the latest flashpoint on women’s reproductive rights in the United States. In 2022, the country’s Supreme Court ended the constitutional right to abortion, leaving it up to states to decide the issue. Conservative-led states quickly invoked strict bans on the procedure within their borders.

Democrats across the US, confident that public opinion is on their side in supporting abortion rights, have sought to elevate the issue ahead of November’s presidential election. Arizona is a key battleground state.

Heather Williams, president of the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee that works to elect Democrats to state legislatures, said her party would capitalise on the “extreme nature of MAGA Arizona Republicans” who voted to maintain the 1864 law as Democrats try to flip the state’s House and Senate in November’s elections.

Rogers, the Republican state senator, acknowledged the political risks.

“Some colleagues would say it’s politically pragmatic for us to find middle ground,” she said. “We might lose the legislature, we might lose the presidential election. But it’s more important to do what’s right.”

Near-total ban on abortions

The 1864 law was revived by a state Supreme Court ruling on April 9, and unless the legislature intervened, it would have taken effect within 60 days of that ruling, according to state Attorney General Kris Mayes, a Democrat.

If the repeal bill is signed, a 2022 statute banning the procedure after 15 weeks of pregnancy would become Arizona’s prevailing abortion law. Still, there would probably be a period when nearly all abortions would be outlawed because the repeal would not take effect until 90 days after the end of the legislative session, which is expected to be in June or July.

Planned Parenthood Arizona, a sexual health organisation in the state, announced it filed a motion on Wednesday afternoon asking the state Supreme Court to prevent a pause in abortion services until the repeal takes effect.

The near-total ban on abortions predates Arizona becoming a state.

Under the 1864 law, “every person” who participates in conducting an abortion can be held criminally liable and face a minimum sentence of two years in prison.

There are no exceptions for cases of rape or incest, although there is an exception when the pregnancy puts a woman’s life at risk.

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A University of Tehran professor said in an interview that Iran likes seeing protests on U.S. college campuses, adding those are their supporters if there is ever a conflict between the two countries.

Professor Foad Izadi, who, according to the University of Southern California Center on Public Diplomacy, earned his master’s degree from the University of Houston, was seen in a video being interviewed about the protests in the U.S.

“Sooner or later, this kind of support for the Zionist regime by the American regime will diminish. It might not stop completely, but its diminishing is important,” he said. “This is why the demonstrations [on U.S. campuses] are important.”

Izadi spoke as a member of the Islamic Republic, and oftentimes said, “we,” referring to him and the republic.

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“We are watching the demonstrations and like what we see, but it should not end with this,” Izadi said. “If not for the Islamic Republic, the case of the Palestinian idea would have been closed years ago. The idea of resistance belongs to Iran, but on the operational level, when it comes to recruiting connections and building networks, the [Iranian] state has not been involved in a sufficient level.

“These (American students) are our people,” he continued. “If tensions between America and Iran rise tomorrow or the day after, these are the people who will have to take to the streets to support Iran.”

Izadi said there are Hezbollah-style groups in the U.S. that are much larger than those in Lebanon.

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“America is the Great Satan and our main enemy, but we have hope in these areas,” he said.

Iran expert and Foreign Desk Editor-in-Chief Lisa Daftari provided insight on Izadi’s comments.

“Quite rich to see the same regime that is fixated on torturing, raping, blinding, executing its own college students, is applauding the ignorant college students on American campuses,” she said. “It speaks to their focus on growing their influence outside of Iran.”

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A protester holds a sign during a march on Columbia University campus in support of a protest encampment supporting Palestinians in New York City, April 29, 2024.  (REUTERS/David Dee Delgado)

Daftari explained that Iran has been beefing up terror proxies in the region and paying their way into American universities.

But at the same time, she said, the Iranian people have suffered under the rule of their “barbaric” leaders.

After watching the comments, Daftari also said it was interesting to hear Izadi say they have more Hezbollah followers in the U.S. than in Lebanon.

“Regardless of when these pro-Hamas protests quiet down here in the U.S., it’s apparent the regime has its sights set on manipulating this momentum to launch more attacks here in the West,” she said. “The question then remains will they focus on a physical attack or just the information war, or both?”