Republicans only pretend to want public input on Arizona abortion law

One of the more disingenuous moments in the Arizona House’s vote Wednesday to repeal the 1864 abortion ban came as Speaker Ben Toma cast the last dissenting vote from the losing side.

There has not been enough time, Toma said, for public input.

The ultimate public input, of course, would have been for the Republican-controlled Legislature to refer to the November ballot a 15-week abortion ban, similar to what his Republican colleagues approved in 2022 and signed by then-Gov. Doug Ducey.

A less restrictive ban that the Arizona Supreme Court nullified earlier this month by upholding the 1864 law.

But that’s not what Toma meant.

Voters should have a final say on abortion

That was laid bare by other Republican lawmakers who spoke right before Toma, citing biblical passages and the GOP platform in voting against a repeal of the 1864 law that criminalizes all abortions except for instances when the mother’s life is endangered.

They railed against surgical abortions of crushing skulls and dismembering fetuses and of abortion providers targeting women of color, notably Black women, for their services.

It suggests there is no way the GOP-led statehouse would give voters a 15-week choice. (Democrats are just as unlikely to support referring an initiative that would compete with the progressive Arizona for Abortion Access initiative they favor.)

Why is that important?

For one thing, a legislative-referred initiative for a 15-week ban, with exceptions for rape and incest, would provide Arizonans a true option on abortion rights.

Various polls indicate a sizable number of Americans, including Arizonans, oppose abortion without restrictions, which the Arizona for Abortion Access Act represents.

For another, the Voter Protection Act would prevent lawmakers — on either side — from tinkering with the intent of a voter-approved measure. Essentially, it assures voters have the final say.

Why Republicans are being disingenuous

Based on comments from conservative House members such as Toma, Barbara Parker and David Marshall, even a repeal of the 1864 law that would resurrect a 15-week ban is no guarantee a GOP-controlled Legislature wouldn’t seek greater restrictions.

Especially given the overturning of Roe v. Wade and the elimination of constitutional protection permitting abortions up to viability.

Thus, a repeal of the 1864 law is meaningful only until the Nov. 5 election.

As my colleague Laurie Roberts has noted, a number of the conservative lawmakers may truly be acting on personal conviction and not on politics alone.

But therein lies their disingenuous position.

Repeal helps the GOP: But they'd rather retaliate

Abortion is deeply personal, be it faith or value-based, and naturally divisive. (Some faiths, for instance, view birth as the beginning of life, not conception.)

They can’t and don’t speak for all constituents. Certainly not for the overwhelming majority that opposes a near-blanket ban.

Which practically ends a practice that Americans have had access to the better part of the last five decades.

A public vote is what abortion access — and restrictions — merits.

Alas, Arizonans don’t appear to have much of a choice come November.

Reach Abe Kwok at [email protected]. On X, formerly Twitter: @abekwok.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Arizona abortion law needs public input — at the polls