Senator Murray Statement on Arizona Supreme Court Allowing 1864 Abortion Ban to Go Into Effect

Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, issued the following statement in response to the Arizona Supreme Court allowing a near-total abortion ban from 1864 to go into effect, reversing a previous appeals court ruling.

“This extreme abortion ban dating back to 1864—during the Civil War, before women had the right to vote, and before Arizona was a state—will mean more women will suffer in Arizona, more women will be forced to flee their home state for basic health care, and more women will be forced to stay pregnant when they don’t want to be, even if it threatens their health.

“This deadly and chaotic health care landscape is the cruel reality that Donald Trump and Republicans created by ending Roe and ripping away the right to choose—and they won’t stop until abortion is banned in every state.”

Senator Murray is a longtime leader in the fight to protect and expand access to reproductive health care and abortion rights, and she has led Congressional efforts to fight back after the Supreme Court’s disastrous decision overturning Roe v. Wade last year. Murray led her colleagues at the very outset of this Congress to make crystal clear that Senate Democrats are continuing to fight to protect every American’s reproductive rights and will be a firewall against Republicans’ continued attacks on women’s rights—and that’s exactly what she’s doing now. Murray has introduced more than a dozen pieces of legislation to protect reproductive rights from further attacks, protect providers, and help ensure women get the care they need; she also co-leads the Women’s Health Protection Act, which would restore the right to abortion nationwide. Ahead of the one year anniversary of the Dobbs decision, Senator Murray led Senate Democrats in seeking unanimous consent on the Senate floor for four common-sense bills to protect women’s fundamental freedoms, and in January she led her colleagues in hosting a “State of Abortion Rights” briefing with women who have suffered firsthand from Republican abortion bans.

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