‘A disaster’: Vulnerable Arizona Republicans panic over abortion ruling
Arizona Republicans got just what they wanted Tuesday when the state’s Supreme Court upheld a 160-year-old abortion ban—enacted before the state was even a state—that criminalizes abortions and mandates prison sentences for providers. That ruling cements the state as a battleground in the 2024 election and is making life a lot tougher for the Republican candidates who made their careers in part by carrying water for the anti-abortion movement.
Rep. David Schweikert is one of the most vulnerable, up for reelection in a district that narrowly voted for President Joe Biden in 2020. Schweikert is a six-time co-sponsor of the radical Life at Conception Act. That’s the legislation that would ban all abortions and does not exclude IVF treatments in defining a “person” as “each and every member of the species homo sapiens at all stages of life, including the moment of fertilization.”
In 2022, Schweikert applauded the U.S. Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade, saying he was "pleased" that the decision “reaffirms the right to life.” He’s not so pleased now.