Arizona abortion providers hope 1864 ban will spark change: ‘A blue wave is coming’

Providers are optimistic for a different future for abortion in the state even as Republicans flounder in their response

The waiting room of the Acacia Women's Center in Phoenix, Arizona, was calm and quiet on Friday. Patients sat with their mothers, friends or partners, paying no mind to the slapstick Tyler Perry movie on the TV and an arrangement of Vogue magazines resting on a table.

It had been three days since the state's highest court reinstated an 1864 law that would ban almost all abortions and send abortion providers to prison for up to five years.