Senator Mark Kelly criticized the impact of overturning Roe v. Wade on women in Arizona, saying they have lost fundamental abortion rights and some could die due to a 1864 law banning nearly all abortions taking effect.
While the state court has put it on hold, Kelly blamed former President Trump for enabling this situation.
CBS’s Margaret Brennan said, “I want to ask you about what’s happening in your home state of Arizona, as you know the State Court ruled an 1864 Civil War era law can take effect that would criminalize abortion, it’s on hold at the moment, but this is a live issue. Do you have confidence that your state legislators will take action before it goes into effect?”
He said Republican state legislators had an opportunity to take action but did not.
Kelly noted there will be a ballot initiative in November for voters to guarantee abortion access up to viability at 21-24 weeks.
“Well, let me start by saying this has been a disaster for women in Arizona. They’ve lost a fundamental right to abortion, and it’s all because of Donald Trump. And our legislature, yeah, they tried to fix this a couple of days ago, that did not work. We’ve got to get- we’ve got a ballot initiative in November to fix this. Donald Trump owns this. He said just yesterday that he broke Roe v. Wade and because he did that, this enabled our court to bring back this draconian 1864 law to take away this right, send doctors to jail,” Kelly said.
“I mean, to be fair, your Republican state legislators have some agency here too, they could have done something different, but I take your rhetorical point,” Brennan said.
“They could have. Yeah, they could have and right, they did not do- do anything about it. They had the opportunity,” Kelly said.
“But, there is that initiative you just mentioned to put on the ballot in November a chance for your state to vote on this particular issue and it would guarantee abortion access up to viability, which is anywhere between 21 and 24 weeks, typically, of pregnancy. From a political position, how much is this going to help offset some of the disappointment and exhaustion we’re seeing in polling from Democratic voters? Will this issue drive up turnout in a way that benefits the president in your state?” Brennan asked.
While his primary concern is Arizona women’s health, Kelly believed the issue will drive large turnout in the election and help offset Democratic voter disappointment.
However, he argued the 1864 law does not represent who Arizonans are and the initiative provides an opportunity to fix the situation.
“Well, my first concern is women in Arizona and their- and their health and women could die from this 1864 ruling that once again was enabled by the former president. So that’s my biggest concern. We’re going to have an election in November. I imagine we’re going to have large turnout because of this issue. I also want to point out, Margaret, that I don’t think this represents who we are in the state of Arizona. This is a moment in time, we’re gonna get through this. We have an opportunity to fix this in November,” Kelly said.
