‘Women Could Die’ from Arizona 1864 Ruling ‘Enabled’ by Trump

Senator Mark Kelly (D-AZ ) claimed on CBS’s “Face the Nation ” that a 123-year-old law that forbids almost all abortions except for the sake of the mother could cause fatalities for women in his state.

Limited text as follows:

MARGARET BRENNAN: I want to ask you about what’s happening in your home state of Arizona, as you know the State Court ruled an 1864 Civil War era rules can take effect that would prosecute pregnancy, it ’s on hold at the moment, but this is a life issue. Do you have faith that the motion your state politicians will take before it becomes effective?

KELLY: Well, let me start by saying this has been a hazard for people in Arizona. They’ve lost a fundamental right to abortion, and it ’s all because of Donald Trump. And our government, yeah, they tried to fix this a couple of days earlier, that did not work. We’ve got to get- we’ve got a ballot initiative in November to resolve this. Donald Trump owns this. He claimed only yesterday that he had violated Roe v. Wared, and because of that, our court was able to reinstate this oppressive 1864 legislation, which would have removed this right and sent specialists to prison.

BRENNAN: I mean, to be good, your Republican state legislators have some company these too, they may have done something different, but I take your linguistic level.

KELLY: They may possess. Yeah, they could have and straight, they did not perform- do anything about it. They had the chance.

BRENNAN: But, there is that program you just mentioned to put on the ballot in November a chance for your state to vote on this particular problem and it would ensure abortion access up to viability, which is somewhere between 21 and 24 weeks, generally, of pregnancy. How much of the disappointment and exhaustion we are seeing in polls from Democratic voters will this help to offset? Will this issue increase voter turnout in a way that benefits the candidate for president in your state?

KELLY: Well, my first concern is women in Arizona and their- and their health and women could die from this 1864 ruling that once again was enabled by the former president. So that ’s my biggest concern. We’re going to have an election in November. I anticipate a sizable turnout will result from this problem. I also want to point out, Margaret, that I don’t think this represents who we are in the state of Arizona. This is a moment in time, we’re gonna get through this. In November, we have a chance to make a change.

Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN