Tempe senator files complaint against GOP over handling of abortion issue

Senate Democrats, led by a Tempe lawmaker, filed a complaint Monday against two Republican leaders accusing them of violating rules by ignoring their efforts last week to get recognized and advance a measure to repeal an 1864 abortion law.

Senate Minority Leader Mitzi Epstein, D-Tempe, said she is not seeking actual punishment against Senate President pro-tem T.J. Shope, who decided to consider a motion to adjourn on Wednesday over vocal calls and protests by Democrats to instead consider the abortion issue.

Instead, the Tempe Democrat said she wants an acknowledgment by Shope, who was presiding over the Senate, that he violated rules, an apology - and a promise to rectify the issue when the Democrats try again this coming Wednesday.

But Shope, a Coolidge Republican, said that’s not going to happen.

He told Capitol Media Services he was obliged to take a vote on the motion by Senate Majority Leader Sonny Borrelli to adjourn for the day. That’s because Borrelli had the floor - the recognition to speak -and had specifically called for an immediate vote.

That left Epstein and Sen. Anna Hernandez, D-Phoenix, both of whom had sought recognition, on the Senate floor vocally complaining.

But, officially speaking, those complaints were to no one at all as Shope already had left, having declared the session over.

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