One Year Ago Arkansas Passed Two Good Laws Restricting Abortion Drugs

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Above: Sen. Blake Johnson presents Act 562 to the Arkansas Senate in this file photo from March 29, 2021.

One year ago this week the Arkansas Legislature passed two excellent laws that restrict abortion-inducing drugs like RU-486.

Act 560 by Rep. Robin Lundstrum (R – Springdale) and Sen. Scott Flippo (R – Mountain Home) outlines the informed-consent process for abortion drugs in Arkansas.

Arkansas’ previous informed-consent laws for abortion focused primarily on surgical abortion procedures. Act 560 ensures women get all the facts about chemical abortion as well — including its risks, its consequences, and its pro-life alternatives.

Act 560 helps women choose options besides the RU-486 abortion drugs. That has the potential to save many unborn children from abortion.

Act 562 by Rep. Sonia Barker (R – Smackover) and Sen. Blake Johnson (R – Corning) updates Arkansas’ restrictions on abortion-inducing drugs like RU-486.

Among other things, Act 562 outlines requirements that abortionists must follow in administering abortion-inducing drugs, and it prohibits abortion drugs from being delivered by mail in Arkansas.

Abortion-inducing drugs are dangerous.

Documents from the Arkansas Department of Health reveal there were 40 reports of women who experienced complications from the RU-486 abortion drug in 2020.

The reports underscore that women need to know all of the risks associated with abortion-inducing drugs.

Last year the Biden Administration relaxed the federal rules for RU-486. Act 560 and Act 562 help push back against the Biden Administration’s pro-abortion rule change.

These are good laws that protect women and unborn children from abortion. That’s something to celebrate.

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Updated: Lake Hamilton School Board Stops Opening Meetings With Prayer After Atheist Group Complains

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Updated at 4:39 PM on April 1, 2022:

Based on articles in The Sentinel Record and The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette as well as conversations with individuals in Garland County, it seems that the Lake Hamilton School Board members have continued to pray before their meetings, but prayer is not part of the board’s official agenda.

Below is our original article from March 28.

Earlier this month the Freedom From Religion Foundation reported it had successfully stopped the Lake Hamilton School District in Garland County from opening school board meetings with prayer.

In an article dated March 2, the atheist organization wrote,

A concerned parent from Lake Hamilton School District in Arkansas contacted FFRF regarding prayer at school board meetings; a subsequent review of board meeting minutes confirmed that board meetings were consistently opened with prayer.

Board members are free to pray privately or to worship on their own time in their own way, Heineman wrote to the legal counsel for the school board a few weeks ago. However, by praying at official meetings, the school board lends its power and prestige to religion, amounting to a governmental endorsement. And, FFRF pointed out, prayer also alienates nonreligious Americans who make up the fastest growing segment of the U.S. population by religious identification — 35 percent of Americans are non-Christians, including more than one in four Americans who identify as religiously unaffiliated.

The board has quickly responded to FFRF’s missive. Counsel for the board replied that “prayer has been removed from the standard agenda.”

Unfortunately, this is not the first time the Freedom From Religion Foundation has bullied a school district in Arkansas.

In March of 2017 the organization threatened to sue the Harrison School Board for opening board meetings with prayer. School board members voted unanimously to keep praying despite the Freedom From Religion Foundation’s threat.

In December of 2019 Pea Ridge Public Schools suspended public prayer at school board meetings and ballgames following a complaint from the Freedom From Religion Foundation.

More generally, in 2013 the group threatened legal action against Conway public schools who were letting local youth ministers visit members of their youth groups during lunch at school, and the foundation has complained repeatedly about the fact that Arkansas law lets public schools offer academic courses on the Bible.

The Freedom From Religion Foundation also is one of the groups suing to remove a monument of the Ten Commandments from the Arkansas Capitol lawn.

As we have said before, the U.S. Supreme Court and lower federal courts have ruled time and time again that it is constitutional for public meetings to begin with prayer.

It’s worth noting that across the board, groups like the Freedom From Religion Foundation tend to threaten lawsuits. If people stand their ground, these organizations rarely follow through by filing lawsuits.

Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.

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Advertising Company Asks Judge For More Time to Respond to Satanic Temple’s Lawsuit

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Above: One of the billboard designs that Lamar reportedly rejected in 2020.

On Wednesday, Lamar Advertising asked the U.S. District Court in Fort Smith for additional time to respond to a lawsuit from the Satanic Temple.

The unopposed request for an extension asked the court to give Lamar until April 12 to answer the Satanic Temple’s complaint.

In February the Satanic Temple filed a federal lawsuit against Lamar Advertising in Arkansas’ Western District Court over a set of pro-abortion billboards that Lamar rejected in 2020.

The four billboard designs that Lamar rejected claimed the Satanic Temple’s “religious abortion ritual averts many state restrictions” on abortion. 

The Satanic Temple is a prominent atheist organization. The group has tried to persuade federal courts to recognize abortion as a religious ritual. So far courts have not done so.

According to court documents, the Satanic Temple wanted to place pro-abortion billboards near pregnancy resource centers in Fayetteville, Springdale, and Little Rock, but Lamar rejected the billboard designs.

As we have written before, the Satanic Temple has a history of stirring up controversy in Arkansas.

The group has opposed Arkansas’ monument honoring the Ten Commandments and is part of a lawsuit to have the monument removed from the capitol grounds.

The Satanic Temple’s lawsuit against Lamar Advertising is in U.S. District Judge Timothy Brooks’ court, and it may not be resolved for several months.

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