Hobbs May Be Biting Off More Than She Can Chew In Arizona

Well, she’s doing exactly what we were all afraid that they would do. Arizona Democratic Governor-Elect Katie Hobbs is planning to call a special session in her state legislature to bring “clarity” to the state abortion laws on the very first day her administration takes over in January. 

This will be an aggressive mover to begin her tenure as Governor of the state. She will be moving to get the 1864 territorial law that only permits abortion in the case of danger to the mother’s life repealed. And there are two laws that conflict with this law already on the books. 

Arizona has a law for a 15-week ban on abortion that was signed by Republican Gov. Doug Ducey in March of 2022. This new law does not include exceptions for rape and incest past that point.

Gov.-elect Hobbs does not support the 15-week ban and she is getting ready to make these moves with the assumption that both Republican and Democratic lawmakers will prefer a more recent law that many on the right voted in favor of. 

Hobbs told the media recently, “My focus right now is just going to be to repeal this law. That should be plain and simple. Again, in terms of representing the majority of Arizonans and being in line with what was a major issue in this election that we just got through, I would be hopeful that some Republicans would be willing to make that change.”

Gov.-elect Hobbs is obviously trying to appeal to her base as quickly as possible, but this could prove to be detrimental to her administration in the long run. 

The GOP, who don’t believe she fairly won the election, are still in the majority in the state legislature. They will play hardball politically and it will take some maneuvering to get a Republican vote to join with the Democratic in repealing the 1864 law. 

And they certainly will try and take away her first attempt at a win. 

Welcome to the governor’s mansion.