The Arizona Senate on Wednesday voted to repeal a 160-year-old law that banned nearly all abortions in the state — including in cases of incest or rape — and that had been reinstated by the state Supreme Court in early April. The 1864 law allowed for an abortion only if the mother’s life was in danger. The legislation was sent to Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs for her signature after passing the Senate with a vote of 16-14, Reuters reported. The news agency said two Republican senators joined with the chamber’s minority Democrats after the Arizona House of Representatives last week also approved repealing the 19th century law. “Today, the Senate finally did the right thing and answered my calls to repeal the 1864 abortion ban. I’m going to sign it into law. And we are going to get rid of this awful ban once and for all,” Hobbs wrote on the social media platform X, formerly Twitter.

Today, the Senate finally did the right thing and answered my calls to repeal the 1864 abortion ban.

I’m going to sign it into law.

And we are going to get rid of this awful ban once and for all.

— Katie Hobbs (@katiehobbs) May 1, 2024

The law had been blocked since 1973, when the U.S. Supreme Court established a federal right to abortion in its Roe v. Wade ruling. But with the high court overturning Roe last year, the state court cleared the way for the pre-statehood law to take effect.

In 2022, the Republican-controlled Legislature passed a law banning abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy.

Democrats have said they will continue to push a ballot measure that would restore abortion rights to voters before the November general election.

See Also: Arizona aprova abolição de lei que proíbe quase todos os abortos (Portuguese version)