Arizona House Speaker finds himself in eye of abortion-rights tornado

Arizona House Speaker Ben Thoma, a Republican, is facing liquidation as he tries to overcome the fallout from the Arizona Supreme Court’s ruling that enforced an 1864 abortion ban.

Since last week’s decision, Mr. Toma has twice helped block House Democratic efforts to repeal the ban on procedural grounds.

Thomas faces pressure from national Republicans, including former President Trump and Kali Lake, who want to repeal the Civil War-era ban, which would result in a 15-week ban passed in 2022. The ordinance will be reinstated.

But Thoma is also running in a crowded Republican primary, and voters and anti-abortion groups are unlikely to reward him for compromising in favor of a more lenient abortion ban.

Like many other conservatives across the country, Toma and Republicans in the Arizona Legislature have long believed that abortion is immoral and should be banned. But the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade showed that the issue can be sensitive for Republicans and Democrats alike.

Last year, Thoma defended the 1864 law in an amicus brief to the state Supreme Court.

But those beliefs are now colliding with the political reality that Republicans have no safe position to address abortion. A backlash against the territorial ban could upset the state’s conservative majority and hurt Trump’s campaign in key battleground states.

“Abortion is a very complex topic. It is ethically and morally complex. I ask you to respect the fact that there are people who believe this is the murder of a child,” Toma said on the House floor Wednesday while voting to block Democrats from taking up the repeal bill.

Thomas argues there is no need to rush to vote to repeal the bill because it will not take effect until 90 days after Congress adjourns for the year. Legislators still have unfinished business to do, including passing a budget bill, so the adjournment is not imminent.

Arizona is the latest in a heated battle over abortion access after the state Supreme Court upheld a Civil War-era law banning nearly all abortions in the state except to save the mother’s life. It became a state. The law also imposes prison sentences for doctors who perform abortions.

The day before the ruling, President Trump tried to neutralize the issue by saying that each state develops its own policies regarding abortion.

But after the Arizona court’s ruling, the former president tried to tone down what appeared to be an endorsement of leaving decisions up to the states. He told reporters the ruling went too far and suggested “it will be corrected.”

Lake, a Trump ally and hopeful in the Senate, also opposed the ruling and personally lobbied Arizona lawmakers to repeal the law.

Despite pressure, Thomas helped thwart two attempts to allow the state legislature to consider repealing the 1864 law. In the most recent attempt, only one Republican, state Rep. Matt Gress, voted alongside Democrats.

In the state Senate, two Republicans joined Democrats in voting in favor of passing a bill that would waive the rule and repeal the 1864 law.

Thomas signaled that the effort would go nowhere in the House. In an interview with Axios Early this week.

State Rep. David Cook, a Republican, believes there are enough Republicans in the House to support the repeal bill when Congress reconvenes as early as next week, even if Thomas continues to oppose it. He said there was.

He told The Hill there has been no official whip message from Republican leadership.

“This decision was the most difficult decision I have made in my eight years in Congress,” Cook said. “I strongly believe that on Wednesday, the repeal bill will be considered and voted on in the House of Commons.”

Republican strategists who know Mr. Thomas said they expect him to remain unchanged and continue to oppose repealing the 1864 law.

“For him, this is going well. [members don’t override him], he’s okay with that. Barret Marson, an Arizona-based Republican strategist, says Ben Thoma is doing his best to maintain territorial law even if he loses, so he’s doing well. That’s probably what Republican primary voters in his district want.” .

Former Republican Arizona House Speaker Kirk Adams said Thoma is trying to navigate conflicting personal and political crosswinds.

Thomas may benefit from opposing repeal of the pre-statehood ban in Republican primaries for Republican-leaning seats, but keeping it in place could cost the state’s Republican majority. be. Republicans hold a one-seat majority in both chambers of the Arizona Legislature.

“This is precisely the dilemma of running in a primary for Congress and becoming speaker, because those two interests conflict,” Adams explained. “There is no question that if we don’t repeal this law, the majority will be at risk and in jeopardy. It will hurt legislators in battleground districts.”

Stan Burns, a Republican consultant and former Arizona senator, said even the most ardent anti-abortion legislators will have to compromise if they want any abortion restrictions.

“Pro-life people will see that if we go to the polls with the 1864 law and 24 weeks voting, 24 weeks will win,” Burns said, adding that until the point where it’s practicable, He mentioned a potential ballot measure that would protect abortion.

“The pro-life movement has become temporary, but what good will it do if it lasts six months?”

A slideshow presentation leaked this week among Republican state legislators opposes a ballot measure that enshrines abortion protections into the state constitution, which Democrats are likely to put on the ballot this November, as Republicans weigh their options. It was proposed that a referendum be proposed.

If both chambers of Congress can pass the same language, it will automatically appear on the ballot in November.

Cook said the Republican caucus is making progress on a possible path forward and supports a referendum to ban abortions after 15 weeks, with exceptions for rape, incest and to save the mother’s life. Then he said.

“But it’s hard to get votes because there are people who don’t vote for anything,” he said.

Max Force, an Arizona political consultant, said political self-interest usually takes precedence. But he noted that continuing to oppose repeal despite nationwide outcry could be a way to promote Thoma’s staunch anti-abortion credentials.

“Thoma is in a bind, but it’s also an opportunity for him politically. This is a way for him to stand out in a Republican primary that is probably more than 1,000 percent pro-life voters,” said former John McCain. said Force, a longtime campaigner for U.S. Sen. (R-Ariz.).

But “because that’s a competing interest with what Donald Trump and Kali Lake want, and that’s not going to drive the Democratic Party in the general election.”

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Some Republican lawmakers argue that abortion, unlike other issues, is not easily negotiable.

Former Rep. Matt Salmon (R-Ariz.), who served as assistant majority leader in the state Senate before being elected to Congress, said that Thomas is primarily concerned with conscience rather than politics. He said he was following.

“There are so many things – immigration, whatever – there are so many things that people can negotiate,” Salmon said. “But living with someone, if it’s a very serious moral issue for you, it’s not something you just use as a throwaway card. Political stuff like Kali Lake and Trump are doing. isn’t it.”