Right now, millions of Arizonans are living in a special kind of hell.

Anyone in the state who could become pregnant, or whose family members, friends or partners could become pregnant, is wondering if the door to reproductive care they might need will slam completely shut in just a few weeks.

Their future is in the hands of the state Senate, which could decide this week if a near-total abortion ban will be repealed or go into effect this spring.

Last Wednesday the Arizona House succeeded — after three tries — in passing a bill to repeal the draconian statewide abortion ban, vintage 1864, that the state Supreme Court had ruled was valid.

Now the Senate has to act if a repeal is to happen, and the earliest that could take place would be this Wednesday, May 1.

The ban in question is extreme. It begins at conception with no exceptions for rape or incest.

That means no legal alternative if contraception fails, if pregnancy comes way too soon or way too late in life, or if, horrifically, it is forced on you.

The one exception is for life-threatening complications of pregnancy, but that’s hardly reassuring. What happens when a doctor, at risk of prison time, must make........

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