First, the Arizona House of Representatives voted, with ALL Democratic members voting in favor, and three Republican members (Reps Matt Gress (R-Phoenix), Tim Dunn (R-Yuma) and Justin Wilmeth R-Phoenix) voting with them, to REPEAL the 1864 abortion ban. Clearly, there is deep conviction on both sides of the issue. However, as the Arizona Eagletarian has indicated before, the bottom-line is to protect the (civil) rights of already breathing humans. I commend all of the Democratic members along with Gress, Dunn, and Wilmeth.
From the Arizona Mirror:
After two weeks of thwarted attempts, the Arizona House of Representatives voted Wednesday to repeal a near-total abortion ban from 1864, with three Republican lawmakers breaking from their party to join Democrats in striking it down.
Earlier this month, the Arizona Supreme Court upheld the 1864 law, which carries with it a mandatory prison sentence for doctors who provide an abortion for any reason other than saving a woman’s life, over a 15-week gestational ban passed in 2022.
The ruling sent shockwaves through Arizona’s political landscape, and several attempts to repeal the 160-year-old law in the state legislature on April 10 and April 17 were blocked by the GOP majority. At the time, only Rep. Matt Gress, R-Phoenix, who’s facing reelection in a swing district that has a history of punishing anti-abortion politicians, supported Democrats in their bid to eliminate the law before it’s set to go into effect on June 8.
A grand jury has indicted 18 people, including two Arizona state senators and the former head of the Arizona Republican Party, in a fake elector scheme that aimed to install Donald Trump as the president after he lost the 2020 election to Joe Biden.
The Arizona Attorney General’s Office has not released the names of everyone who was indicted, but all 11 fake electors were charged:
- Kelli Ward, former AZGOP chairman
- Arizona Sen. Jake Hoffman, leader of the Arizona Freedom Caucus
- Arizona Sen. Anthony Kern, member of the Arizona Freedom Caucus
- Tyler Bowyer, Turning Point USA CEO
- Michael Ward, husband of Kelli Ward
- Nancy Cottle, a Republican who’s been active in local politics for a decade
- James Lamon, a failed 2022 U.S. Senate candidate
- Robert Montgomery, former chairman of the Cochise County Republican Committee
- Samuel Moorhead, former chairman of Gila County Republican Party
- Lorraine Pellegrino, former president of the Ahwatukee Republican Women
- Gregory Safsten, former executive director of the AZGOP
And as President Biden would say, both of today's developments are BFDs!
The Arizona Eagletarian is thankful today for both of these major developments, which literally and symbolically strengthen democracy in Arizona and indirectly throughout the country.
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