Arizona governor says 'women will die' if 1864 abortion law isn't repealed

Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs (D) said Friday that “women will die” if the controversial 1864 law on abortion in the state isn’t repealed.

“[They] need to repeal this law,” Hobbs said in an interview on ABC’s “The View,” in a clip highlighted by Mediaite. “It is the right thing to do for Arizonans. I know that Arizona women will die under this ban, and they need to get their stuff together and just repeal it.”

On Tuesday, the Arizona Supreme Court rejected arguments that it should uphold a 15-week ban on abortion in a 4-2 decision. The 15-week ban, originally passed in 2022, was enforced in the wake of the overturning of Roe v. Wade by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Arizona’s highest court instead ruled in favor of the enforcement of an 1864 law that makes abortion a felony that’s punishable by two to five years in prison for those who perform it or those who help someone get one. The court also lifted a stay on the abortion law, which has an intensely slim exception for “when it is necessary” to save the life of a pregnant person, resulting in it going into effect in two weeks.

Democrats in the Grand Canyon State tried to repeal law Wednesday, but they were blocked in the state’s House and Senate. In the lower chamber, Democrats shouted at Republicans that they would have “blood on your hands” following their refusal to examine the bill.

“[We] can talk about how crazy it is, that a law passed in 1864 by 27 men, now controls the lives of millions of Arizona women, but I wanna talk about the effect that’s going to have on women in our state,” Hobbs said on “The View.” “I, myself, have personally experienced … a miscarriage, losing a pregnancy by miscarriage. And the treatment for that is a procedure that is also an abortion, and that is a common treatment.”