Does Arkansas Have the Strongest Pro-Life Law in America?

Abortion, , ,

2015marchforlife_banner2Earlier this year the Arkansas Legislature passed The Woman’s Right to Know Act, Act 1086 of 2015.

The law amends Arkansas’ rules for informed-consent prior to an abortion. It replaces the Woman’s Right to Know Act of 2001; under the 2001 law, women had to be provided with information about abortion prior to the procedure, but the information did not necessarily have to be given in person or in a private, one-on-one setting with the woman. The 2001 law also did not include vital information–such as information on new, cutting-edge science on chemical abortion reversal.

The new law helps ensure a woman seeking an abortion will be given details on abortion, its risks, and its alternatives in a private setting, where she can ask questions and get answers.

It also requires the doctor to wait 48 hours before performing the abortion–giving the woman time to consider all the information and explore all her options.

After speaking with experts on pro-life laws, it appears Arkansas’ informed-consent law may be the strongest in the nation.

(more…)

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Unpacking the Polling On “Medical” Marijuana in Arkansas

Marijuana

Earlier this month Talk Business published the results of a poll conducted in cooperation with Impact Management and Hendrix College. The poll purports to show 84% of Arkansas voters support “medical” marijuana prescribed by a physician.

Many people are touting these poll results as proof Arkansans support legalization of “medical” marijuana. But before we jump to conclusions, let’s look at the key question in the poll regarding marijuana:

“Do you agree or disagree that adults should be allowed to legally use marijuana for medical purposes if a physician prescribes it?”

According to Talk Business, 84% of people surveyed answered “agree.” There is a problem, however: The kind of marijuana proposal described by this poll question is nothing like any of the proposals being offered to Arkansans right now. In fact, it’s nothing like any “medical” marijuana law we know of in the nation.

Here is what we mean. (more…)

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Lottery Ticket Sales, Scholarship Funds Drop in August

Arkansas Lottery

Lottery scholarship revenue dropped by nearly $300,000 in August as ticket sales fell, according to the latest monthly report from the Arkansas Lottery.

The Arkansas Lottery took in nearly $31.3 million dollars during the month of August, but only paid out about $5.5 million.

Altogether, only 17.6 cents of every dollar the Arkansas Lottery makes goes to fund scholarships.

While the Lottery is only two months into Fiscal Year 2016, scholarship funding is on track to come in around $70 million for the year–$30 million less than lottery proponents promised Arkansans when the Lottery was first instituted in Arkansas. Of course, we have written time and again about a few simple changes Lottery officials could make to increase scholarship funding.

Below is a breakdown of lottery ticket sales and scholarship funding for Fiscal Year 2016.

Month (FY16) Gross Lottery Revenue Paid to Scholarships % Gross Revenue
July $ 31,665,651.14 $ 5,784,683.09 18.3%
August  31,265,177.55  5,490,094.00 17.6%
Total $ 62,930,828.69 $ 11,274,777.09 17.9%

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