While many Republicans celebrated the Arizona Supreme Court declaring abortion “illegal” in the state on Tuesday, some of the party’s members who could be at risk of losing reelection in the Grand Canyon state opposed the decision — even if it meant changing their previously stated stance on the issue.
The most prominent was MAGA U.S. Senate candidate Kari Lake, who criticized the law upheld by the state Supreme Court despite once calling it “great.” Lake also commended presumptive GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump’s remarks on abortion earlier this week, during which he said he would not support federal restrictions and leave the issue to individual states. Trump’s stance on the issue has been similarly slippery, as he’s recently been teasing a federal ban should he retake the White House in November.
Trump and Lake are far from the only Republicans to offer mixed messages on reproductive rights as they try to court both the far-right and the majority of Americans who want abortion protected.
Rep. Juan Ciscomani, a Republican who represents the purple southeast corner of Arizona, called the state Supreme Court’s ruling a “disaster” in a statement Tuesday, despite saying in 2022 that he applauded the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.
Rep. David Schweikert (R-Ariz.) was another vocal critic. “I do not support today’s ruling from the AZ Supreme Court,” Schweikert wrote on X, formerly Twitter. “This issue should be decided by Arizonans, not legislated from the bench. I encourage the state legislature to address this issue immediately.”
Schweikert notably co-sponsored the Life at Conception Act six times over the course of a decade. The bill would extend 14th Amendment protections to unborn children.
There was also some GOP dissent at the state level. Republicans have a majority in both Arizona legislative chambers by a margin of two votes each, leading some Republicans, like state Rep. Matt Gress to say: “Let me be clear: this decision cannot stand.” As Kaitlin Collins pointed out on CNN, last year Gress pushed a bill that declared fetuses as people, which would have also rendered abortion illegal.
There were plenty of Republicans who cheered the decision, though. As part of the party’s victory lap, Fox Business host Larry Kudlow spoke to Sens. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) and Rick Scott (R-Fla.) about the ruling. Ernst credited Trump, her fellow Senate Republicans and the GOP with overturning Roe v. Wade.
“I support life,” Ernst said, adding: “We worked very hard to get that result, now the states will take that up.”
Scott, who represents a state whose Supreme Court recently upheld its own abortion ban, echoed the sentiment that abortion policy will be decided by the states.
“This is exactly what ought to be happening,” Scott said.
The Arizona Freedom Caucus, which represents several far-right members of the Arizona state legislature, put out a statement criticizing Republicans like Ciscomani, Schweikert, and Gress, who were not on board with the ruling.
“Sadly, it seems that some are choosing to reject the fundamental, core principle of protecting life,” the statement read. “Some have chosen instead to jump on a bandwagon to legalize unrestricted abortions for the first 15 weeks of pregnancy … This is unacceptable, morally wrong, and abrasively out of step with the central tenants of the Republican Party Platform and Republican voters.”
