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Arizona’s controversial 1864 abortion ban will not be enforced until June 8, the state’s Democratic Attorney General Kris Mayes said in a letter to abortion providers Friday, after lawmakers on both sides of the aisle roundly criticized the state Supreme Court’s recent decision to enact one of the most strict abortion bans in the country. (Bushard, 4/19)

California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) said Sunday that state lawmakers will introduce a bill this week to assist women traveling from Arizona seeking abortion care in response to the rollout of one of the strictest abortion restrictions in the country. An Arizona Supreme Court decision earlier this month implemented an 1864 abortion law preventing access to the procedure in nearly all circumstances starting May 1. Despite calls from national Republicans to replace the law with a less strict measure, state lawmakers have shot down attempts to overturn it. (Robertson, 4/21)

Arizona state House Speaker Ben Toma (R) is facing a reckoning as he tries to navigate the fallout from Arizona’s Supreme Court decision enforcing an 1864 abortion ban.  Since the decision last week, Toma has twice helped block House Democrats’ efforts to repeal the ban on procedural grounds.  (Weixel and Vakil, 4/21)

Crucial swing states where abortion is on the ballot in November are seeing a surge in voter registration, volunteers and donations, according to several abortion-rights activists who spoke with Axios. Democrats have seized on abortion as a winning issue in the post-Roe era, and it's made some states, including Arizona, focal points for 2024. (Habeshian, 4/21)

Even as abortion rights ballot issues have had some striking successes, anti-abortion forces have stood firm in state legislatures like Arizona’s where they have deep convictions and positions of power. (Dias and Healy, 4/20)