Republicans are in full-on panic mode amid fears that a Civil War-era law is about to bring a near-total abortion ban in Arizona — thus threatening to decimate the GOP’s election chances in a key battleground state.
Pending appeals, the law will go into effect in the next few weeks. It will put the issue front and center of the November election, and is expected to have a "seismic impact,” the Washington Post reported Wednesday.
“I’m trying to think of when there was a more stunning political phenomenon injected into an election cycle, and I can’t think of one,” Stan Barnes, a Republican consultant and former member of the state legislature, told the Post. "It’s just a powerful change in the political landscape leading up to the 2024 general election.”
Republican operative Max Fose said the state Supreme Court’s decision will, “definitely give Biden a leg up going into the election.”
“If we look at it, it’s like 9 percent of the electorate is Republican swing voters,” he said. “That represents 234,000 people. They just slummed those people over to Biden’s corner.”
The court on Tuesday ruled an 1864 law that totally bans the procedure apart from in instances when it will save the mother’s life was enforceable, despite the fact that it was put on the books before Arizona was even a state.
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Previously, Arizona law allowed abortion up to 15 weeks of pregnancy.
The decision sent shockwaves throughout the state and the nation. Even Kari Lake, a vocal pro-lifer and the Republican Senate candidate for the state, called for it to be halted — just two years after she supported it.
It follows Donald Trump’s announcement earlier in the week that abortion legislation should be up to states to decide, and fears that the issue could be a major deciding factor nationally in November’s election.
Democratic strategist Tony Cani said it’s “going to be catastrophic” for the GOP.
“This is earth-shattering,” he told the Post. “This is going to create an overwhelming wave of voters who otherwise might not have been enthusiastic about this election, or otherwise might not have voted at all, to go in and vote literally for their lives and for their rights.”