Bill Filed to Ban “Wrongful Birth” Lawsuits

Yesterday Sen. Jeremy Hutchinson (R-Little Rock) filed S.B. 340 banning “wrongful birth” lawsuits.

In other states parents of children born with Down Syndrome and similar conditions have sued doctors and hospitals, claiming that the child should have been aborted. In some cases, couples have collected millions of dollars in these lawsuits.

Currently, Arkansas has no law regarding “wrongful birth” lawsuits, but state court decisions seem to permit them in certain circumstances.

Human life is sacred. No one should be able to file a lawsuit claiming another person should have been killed.

S.B. 340 is a good, pro-life bill that affirms the sanctity of human life. You can read the bill here.

Arkansas Lottery Continues Posting Low Scholarship Figures

Today the Arkansas Lottery released its financial report for the month of January.

The report shows the Lottery took in over $38 million, and paid out less than $8 million to scholarships. This makes January one of the Arkansas Lottery’s better months, but scholarship funding is still low, with less than 21.5% of the Arkansas Lottery’s gross revenue actually being spent on college scholarships.

Lottery Scholarship Funds Supplemented with Tax Dollars

Right now the Arkansas Lottery is on track to pay out roughly $80 million in funding for Arkansas’ Academic Challenge Scholarship–which many refer to as the “Lottery Scholarship”–this fiscal year.

The State of Arkansas will pay another $25 million allocated by the Arkansas Legislature for Academic Challenge Scholarships.

Every year, the Arkansas Legislature’s Joint Budget Committee votes to supplement Arkansas’ Academic Challenge scholarships with state revenue. On average, nearly one-fourth of the the state’s “Lottery Scholarship” money doesn’t come from the Lottery at all. It comes from taxpayers.

There’s simply no way around it: The Arkansas Lottery continues to put up inexcusable numbers each month.

Below is a breakdown of lottery figures so far this fiscal year.

Month Gross Lottery Revenue Paid to Scholarships % Gross Revenue
July, 2016 $38,237,293.92 $8,714,386.39 22.8%
August 35,091,022.09 5,498,714.86 15.7%
September 33,113,391.64 5,773,076.42 17.4%
October 34,061,993.14 5,165,040.54 15.2%
November 37,042,079.72 6,570,979.51 17.7%
December 35,352,159.35 4,596,532.22 13.0%
January, 2017 37,062,291.39 7,947,546.21 21.4%
Total $249,960,231.25 $44,266,276.15 17.7%