Arizona Senate votes to repeal 1864 abortion ban. What it means, and what’s next.

The Arizona state Senate voted Wednesday to repeal a Civil War-era ban on nearly all abortions that — because of procedural hurdles — remains on track to temporarily take effect in June.

The vote in the Republican-led Senate followed passage in the Arizona House last week. The ban briefly went into effect after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, before being blocked by the courts, and was revived by the state’s highest court on April 9 in a ruling that spurred public outcry and threatened to upend politics in the state during an election year.