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By any fair measure, the Arizona Supreme Court’s ruling on abortion rights was a policy and political bombshell. Republican-appointed justices ruled that a 160-year-old near-total abortion ban — first adopted before Arizona was even a state — is enforceable.
As we discussed soon after, once Republican-appointed justices on the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, it was common to hear reproductive rights advocates talk about rolling back the clock a half-century. The Arizona ruling rolls back the clock to a point when obstetricians didn’t know they needed to wash their hands.
In theory, conservative Republicans opposed to reproductive rights had reason to celebrate. In practice, GOP officials and candidates quickly realized that the state Supreme Court’s ruling would be so unpopular with the public that it was instantly politically radioactive. NBC News reported:
Hours after the Arizona Supreme Court ruled that a near-total ban on abortion is enforceable, numerous Arizona Republicans who previously celebrated the end of federal protections for the procedure sought political cover by distancing themselves from the ruling. Republicans in the state issued a wave of statements in opposition to Tuesday’s ruling....
Republican Rep. Juan Ciscomani, for example, represents one of Arizona’s most competitive congressional districts. With this in mind, the GOP lawmaker wasted little time in slamming the ruling as “a disaster for women and providers.”
His fellow Republican Arizonan, Rep. David Schweikert, also insisted that the underlying issue should not be “legislated from the bench.” Given that Schweikert co-sponsored the far-right Life at Conception Act, and is on record saying he was “pleased“ with the fall of Roe v. Wade, the GOP incumbent has reason to be concerned about a voter backlash.
But perhaps most notable was Senate hopeful Kari Lake, who two years ago called the 1864 statute “a great law,” but who’s apparently changed her mind.
The state Supreme Court’s ruling, the Republican conspiracy theorist said, was “out of step with Arizonans.” The failed gubernatorial candidate added, “I oppose today’s ruling.”
The rhetoric was understandable. Lake has already lost one statewide race, and hoping to prevent another failure, the GOP candidate is taking subtle steps to appear more mainstream, hoping that voters in the Grand Canyon State conveniently forget everything she’s said and done in recent years.
But Lake’s record of support for the 1864 territorial law is unambiguous — and it’s very likely to haunt her between now and Election Day.
Arizona was one of the nation’s most competitive battleground states in 2020, and most political observers expected it to remain one in 2024. It’s against this backdrop that Republican-appointed state Supreme Court justices just jolted the political landscape in ways the GOP is wholly unprepared for.