Kari Lake Urging Arizona Republicans to Repeal Abortion Law

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Arizona Republican U.S. Senate hopeful Kari Lake is personally reaching out to GOP lawmakers in the state Legislature in an effort to drum up support to repeal the 1864 abortion law that threatens her chances in November’s election, Politico reported Thursday.

On Tuesday, the Arizona Supreme Court ruled that the state could indeed criminally prosecute women who get an abortion unless, and only if, the life of the mother were in danger. A day later, Lake was on the phone whipping votes with members of the GOP-controlled Arizona House and Senate, according to the report.

“In the 1860s, we weren’t even a state. We used to hang people who were stealing horses and cattle. We don’t do that anymore. They didn’t have the medical expertise; we didn’t have the research; and women couldn’t even vote. Slavery was still legal in the United States,” Republican state Rep. David Cook told Politico. “We need to modernize this law for people today.”

At stake is Lake’s race against Democrat Rep. Ruben Gallego. The Arizona Senate seat, to replace independent Kyrsten Sinema, is one of a handful that will determine whether Republicans can take back the Senate in November.

Lake also released a video Thursday, stressing her opposition to “this total ban on abortion.” However, she’s also on record showing support for it. Democrats have been propagating a 2022 video of an interview during which Lake called the 1864 ban a “great law,” adding that “life begins at conception.”

“Anytime we’re talking about something from the mid-19th century, it’s problematic,” a GOP strategist told Politico. “It reflects poorly on Arizona, and it distracts from the issues that are beneficial to Republicans.”

Former President Donald Trump weighed in Wednesday, saying that the court “went too far” but that it would “be straightened out” and “taken care of, I think, pretty quickly.”

However, Politico reported that only a handful of Republicans in the Legislature are willing to repeal the law. Republican state Rep. Matt Gress tried to start a vote to repeal Wednesday but was shot down by fellow Republicans.

Pro-choice advocates have already been collecting signatures in an effort to get a constitutional amendment on the ballot in November that would enshrine the right to an abortion up to 24 weeks.