AP Week in Pictures: Europe and Africa

April 12-18, 2024

Performers take part in the official flame lighting ceremony in Athens in preparation for the Paris Olympics. A local resident swims in floodwater in Orenburg, Russia, after a dam on the Ural River burst. The northern lights shine over an erupting volcano near the town of Grindavik, Iceland, and Real Madrid players celebrate winning the quarterfinal Champions League quarterfinal in Manchester, England. Residents take refuge at a school after flooding in Kisumu, Kenya.

This gallery highlights some of the most compelling images made or published in the past week by The Associated Press from Europe and Africa. The selection was curated by AP's chief photographer for Russia, Alexander Zemlianichenko.

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Residents take refuge at Ombaka Primary School after fleeing floodwaters that wreaked havoc in Ombaka Village, Kisumu, Kenya Wednesday, April 17, 2024. Heavy rains pounding different parts of Kenya have led to the deaths of at least 13 people and displaced some 15,000, the United Nations said, as forecasters warned more rains can be expected until June. (AP Photo/Brian Ongoro)

A Romanian warship sails engulfed in smoke during a Romanian Navy led exercise outside Constanta, Romania, Tuesday, April 16, 2024. The exercise, dubbed "Sea Shield 2024," brought together U.S. and NATO troops and involved some 2,200 military personnel from 12 allied and partner states. (AP Photo/Andreea Alexandru)

Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece returns the ball to Casper Ruud of Norway during their Monte Carlo Tennis Masters final match in Monaco, Sunday, April 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Daniel Cole)

Police officers stand guard as supporters burn flares outside the Metropolitano stadium, ahead of the Champions League quarterfinal first leg soccer match between Atletico de Madrid and Dortmund in Madrid, Spain, Wednesday, April 10, 2024. This week's Champions League soccer games will go ahead as scheduled despite an Islamic State terror threat. (AP Photo/Andrea Comas, File)

Icelandic horses play at a stud farm in Wehrheim near Frankfurt, Germany, Friday, April 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)

Police officers detain a protestor as other gather outside the parliament building in Tbilisi, Georgia, on Tuesday, April 16, 2024, to protest against "the Russian law" similar to a law that Russia uses to stigmatize independent news media and organizations seen as being at odds with the Kremlin. (AP Photo/Zurab Tsertsvadze)

A rainbow appears in the sky over residents buildings in the German capital during a thunderstorm in Berlin, Tuesday, April 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

People gather in St.Peter's Square, at the Vatican, as Pope Francis delivers his blessing as he recites the Regina Coeli noon prayer from the window of his studio, Sunday, April 14, 2024. Pope Francis urged Iran and Israel in his Sunday's Angelus prayer to avoid new actions that could spark "a spiral of violence" and risked dragging the Middle East deeper into conflict. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

A local resident swims in the flooded street between houses in Orenburg, Russia, on Saturday, April 13, 2024. Over 11,700 houses remain flooded in the Orenburg region and some 10,700 people have already been evacuated from flooded areas. The deluge hit the region after a dam on the Ural River burst last week under surging waters. (AP Photo/Vitaly Smolnikov)

Manchester United's Aaron Wan-Bissaka, left, duels for the ball with Bournemouth's Dango Ouattara during the English Premier League soccer match between Bournemouth and Manchester United, at The Vitality Stadium in Bournemouth, England, Saturday, April 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

Performers take part in the official ceremony of the flame lighting for the Paris Olympics, at the Ancient Olympia site, Greece, Tuesday, April 16, 2024. The flame will be carried through Greece for 11 days before being handed over to Paris organizers on April 26. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)

A view of the Eiffel Tower, in Paris, Monday, April 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard)

A view of the eruption area with the northern lights dancing in the sky near the town of Grindavik, Iceland, Tuesday April 16, 2024. The volcano in southwestern Iceland that erupted three times in December, January and February, sending lava towards a nearby community, keeps erupting. (AP Photo/Marco di Marco)

Real Madrid players celebrate after wining the Champions League quarterfinal second leg soccer match between Manchester City and Real Madrid at the Etihad Stadium in Manchester, England, Wednesday, April 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Dave Thompson)

Deer cross a road in the Taunus forest in Wehrheim near Frankfurt, Germany, Wednesday, April 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)

PHOENIX (AP) — The Arizona Legislature approved a repeal of a long-dormant ban on nearly all abortions Wednesday, sending the bill to Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs, who is expected to sign it.

Two Republicans joined with Democrats in the Senate on the 16-14 vote in favor of repealing a Civil War-era ban on abortions that the state’s highest court recently allowed to take effect. The ban on all abortions — which provides no exceptions for survivors of rape or incest, and only allows for procedures done to save a patient’s life — would still be active until the fall.

Hobbs said in a statement that she looks forward to quickly signing the repeal, with a ceremony scheduled for Thursday.

“Arizona women should not have to live in a state where politicians make decisions that should be between a woman and her doctor,” Hobbs said. "While this repeal is essential for protecting women’s lives, it is just the beginning of our fight to protect reproductive healthcare.”

The revival of the 19th century law has put Republicans on the defensive in Arizona, one of a handful of battleground states that will decide the next president.

“Across the country, women are living in a state of chaos and cruelty caused by Donald Trump,” Vice President Kamala Harris said in a statement on Wednesday. “While Arizona Democrats have worked to clean up the devastating mess created by Trump and his extremist allies, the state’s existing ban, with no exception for rape or incest, remains in effect.”

If the repeal bill is signed, a 2022 statute banning the procedure after 15 weeks of pregnancy would become Arizona’s prevailing abortion law. Still, there would likely be a period when nearly all abortions would be outlawed, because the repeal won’t take effect until 90 days after the end of the legislative session, likely in June or July.

Within hours after the vote, efforts were already under way to prevent the older abortion ban from taking effect before the repeal becomes a reality.

“Without an emergency clause that would allow the repeal to take effect immediately, the people of Arizona may still be subjected to the near-total abortion ban for a period of time this year,” Arizona state Attorney General Kris Mayes said. “Rest assured, my office is exploring every option available to prevent this outrageous 160-year-old law from ever taking effect.”

Planned Parenthood Arizona announced it filed a motion Wednesday afternoon asking the state Supreme Court to prevent a pause in abortion services until the Legislature’s repeal takes effect.

The near-total ban on abortions predates Arizona’s statehood. In a ruling last month, the Arizona Supreme Court suggested doctors could be prosecuted under the 1864 law, which says that anyone who assists in an abortion can be sentenced to two to five years in prison. Then, last week, the repeal bill narrowly cleared the Arizona House.

Voting on the bill stretched more than an hour on Wednesday, amid impassioned speeches.

“This is about the Civil War-era ban that criminalizes doctors and makes virtually all abortions illegal,” said Democratic state Sen. Eva Burch. "We’re here to repeal a bad law. I don’t want us honoring laws about women written during a time when women were forbidden from voting because their voices were considered inferior to men.”

Burch made public on the Senate floor in March that she had a non-viable pregnancy and was going to have an abortion. She warned supporters of reproductive rights on Wednesday that they could not yet rest easy, even after the repeal is signed.

“They are going to use every tool in the toolbox to try to do whatever it is they can to interfere with the repeal of this ban," she said.

There were numerous disruptions from people in Senate gallery, as Republican state Sen. Shawnna Bolick explained her vote in favor of repeal, joining with Democrats.

Bolick appeared to argue that a repeal would guard against extreme ballot initiatives from abortion rights advocates. She is married to state Supreme Court Justice Clint Bolick, who voted to allow a 1864 law on abortion to be enforced again.

“I want to protect our state constitution from unlimited abortions,” the senator said. “I am here to protect more babies. I vote aye.”

Advocates on both sides of the abortion issue flocked to the Arizona Senate to vocalize their views.

A school-age girl kneeled in prayer in front of a statue of the Virgin Mary, while a man with a megaphone shouted at passersby to repent.

Former President Donald Trump, who has warned that the issue could lead to Republican losses, has avoided endorsing a national abortion ban but said he’s proud to have appointed the Supreme Court justices who allowed states to outlaw it.

The Arizona law had been blocked since the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1973 Roe v. Wade decision guaranteed the constitutional right to an abortion nationwide.

When Roe v. Wade was overturned in June 2022 though, then-Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich, a Republican, persuaded a state judge that the 1864 ban could again be enforced. Still, the law hasn’t actually been enforced while the case was making its way through the courts. Mayes, who succeeded Brnovich, urged the state’s high court against reviving the law.

Planned Parenthood officials have said they will reinforce networks that help patients travel out of state to access abortion in places like New Mexico and California.

Advocates are collecting signatures for a ballot measure allowing abortions until a fetus could survive outside the womb, typically around 24 weeks, with exceptions — to save the parent’s life, or to protect her physical or mental health.

Republican lawmakers, in turn, are considering putting one or more competing abortion proposals on the November ballot.

Arizona state senator Shawnna Bolick, R-District 2, speaks, Wednesday, May 1, 2024, at the Capitol in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Matt York)

Anti-abortion supporters stand outside the Capitol, Wednesday, May 1, 2024, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Matt York)

Democratic Arizona state senator Anna Hernandez, D-District 24, left, hugs a colleague after a their vote, Wednesday, May 1, 2024, at the Capitol in Phoenix. Democrats secured enough votes in the Arizona Senate to repeal a Civil War-era ban on abortions that the state's highest court recently allowed to take effect. (AP Photo/Matt York)

Arizona state senator Jake Hoffman, R-District 15, speaks Wednesday, May 1, 2024, at the Capitol in Phoenix. Democrats secured enough votes in the Arizona Senate to repeal a Civil War-era ban on abortions that the state's highest court recently allowed to take effect. (AP Photo/Matt York)

Democratic Arizona state senators hug after a their vote, Wednesday, May 1, 2024, at the Capitol in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Matt York)

Arizona state senator Eva Burch, D-District 9, looks on, Wednesday, May 1, 2024, at the Capitol in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Matt York)

Arizona state senator J. D. Mesnard, R-District 13, plays audio of a heart beat from his cell phone, Wednesday, May 1, 2024, at the Capitol in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Matt York)

Arizona state senator Shawnna Bolick, R-District 2, speaks, Wednesday, May 1, 2024, at the Capitol in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Matt York)

Arizona state senator Jake Hoffman, R-District 15, motions as he speaks to the Senate President, Wednesday, May 1, 2024, at the Capitol in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Matt York)

FILE - The Arizona Senate building at the state Capitol stands, April 11, 2024, in Phoenix. Democrats at the Arizona Legislature are expected to make a final push Wednesday, May 1, to repeal the state’s long-dormant ban on nearly all abortions that a court said can be enforced. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin, File)

FILE - Pro-life demonstrators walk in the front of the Arizona Capitol prior to the vote on the proposed repeal of the state's near-total ban on abortions prior to winning approval from the state House on, April 24, 2024, in Phoenix. Democrats at the Arizona Legislature are expected to make a final push Wednesday, May 1, to repeal the state’s long-dormant ban on nearly all abortions that a court said can be enforced. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin, File)