Exclusive — Arizona State Rep. Travis Grantham: Abortion Law Was Recodified in 1977 By Democrats

The controversial 1864 abortion law in Arizona was actually recodified in 1977 by a Democrat governor and a Democrat legislature, Arizona State Rep. Travis Grantham (R) revealed during an appearance on Breitbart News Daily.

Democrats have been battling an 1864 law in Arizona which essentially outlaws all abortions, and Arizona state House lawmakers voted on Wednesday to repeal the law after some Republicans joined Democrats in their efforts.

But Grantham pointed out that despite the narrative peddled by Democrats — that this is an extreme Republican law — it was recodified at the hands of Democrats less than 50 years ago.

“When Arizona was a territory, transitioning into statehood, we just basically pulled a bunch of our old territorial rules off the rulebook and made them law. The first legislature did that. One of the rules was no woman can get an abortion. [It] didn’t read exactly like that, but basically, you can’t kill your child, unless the life of the mother is at risk,” Grantham, the House Speaker Pro Tem, said, explaining that it has since been recodified a few times.

“Most recently in 1977 in Arizona by a Democrat governor, Raul Castro and a Democrat legislature at the time. And ironically, there’s a member of the Senate now who was in that legislature. She’s 81 years old. She’s a Democrat. She voted for it,” he revealed.

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When asked about the 81 year old’s position now, Grantham described it as “comical.” While he said she is a nice lady, he said “this is kind of how the Democrat Party handles this.”

“They say, ‘Well, you know, we were just recodifying a bunch of old territorial laws that were just a bunch of numbers and references. We didn’t really even read them. We just voted to make a law because we figured it was all good stuff,'” he said.

“I mean, that’s how ridiculous their answer is, and how weak their excuses when it comes to this. They really don’t have a good reason,” he said, explaining that the simple reality is that the Democrat Party has changed.

Democrats, he continued, are playing their “ridiculous games just like they do.”

“Yes, I’m pro-life. I’m proudly pro-life. I’m a Catholic. I stand up for these values. I voted against this repeal numerous times. I personally think abortion is evil. And of course, there are difficult decisions people might have to make in their life. I don’t even want to try to insert myself into that process as a politician. So I liked the old law, I thought the law made sense,” he said, highlighting that it “accounted for the life of the mother.”

“We could have made some minor tweaks language wise, dealing possibly with raping incest — that’s what everybody likes to bring up these days — as something that was missing. We weren’t able to do that. And here we are,” the lawmaker continued, explaining exactly why this issue came before the state Supreme Court. It all comes down to the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade, which told the states, ‘Look, you can’t have some of these restrictions in place. You can you can’t do this,’ and we never repealed it off the books.”

“It just kind of stayed there. And of course, we adhered to what the United States Supreme Court had said states can’t do it, and we left it there,” he explained.

“A couple of years ago, the legislature here which is Republican controlled now with a Republican governor, Governor Ducey, tightened it up a little bit. We said, ok, fine. There are some things we can do that have worked their way through the court system. We’re going to create a 15-week abortion ban and we’re going to have exceptions in there for life of the mother, potentially rape or incest and no abortions after 15 weeks. But we did put language in that bill that said if Roe v. Wade ever goes away, or if there’s a ruling that gives this power back to the states, Arizona will revert to its original law,” he said.

“So that is what the Supreme Court here did. They re-evaluated this situation because of a court case brought forward after Roe v. Wade, and they ruled,” determining that “the old law stands.”

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