House Committee Passes Bill to Help Stop the Sale of Aborted Baby Parts

This morning the Arkansas House Public Health Committee passed H.B. 1566 by Rep. Kim Hammer (R-Benton).

This is a good, pro-life bill that will help prevent aborted babies from being bought or sold in Arkansas.

Undercover videos showing Planned Parenthood officials discussing the sale of aborted baby parts has spurred several states to look at how aborted fetal remains are handled. The videos even prompted a congressional investigation.

According the congressional report released last month, in 2015 an Arkansas abortion clinic provided StemExpress–the company featured in the undercover videos–with tissue obtained from aborted babies.

Rep. Hammer sponsored good legislation two years ago that helped address how the bodies of aborted babies are treated. H.B. 1566 strengthens that good law and will help further ensure aborted babies’ organs are not bought or sold.

The bill now goes to the entire House of Representatives for a vote.

Arkansas House Committee Passes Bill Protecting Babies That Survive Abortion

This morning the Arkansas House Public Health Committee passed S.B. 148, the Born-Alive Infant Protection Act by Sen. Gary Stubblefield (R-Branch) and Rep. Charlene Fite (R-Van Buren).

This bill protects babies born alive following an abortion procedure. It requires doctors to provide nourishment, medical treatment, and emergency care for a baby born alive after an abortion.

In other states we have heard horror stories about living, breathing babies being left to die or being denied care after an abortion. S.B. 148 helps prevent that from happening in Arkansas.

The bill now goes before the entire Arkansas House of Representatives for a vote.

Arkansas Supreme Court Issues Good Ruling on Fayetteville Ordinance

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, February 23, 2017

On Thursday the Arkansas Supreme Court issued a ruling effectively striking a Fayetteville ordinance granting special protections to people based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

Family Council President Jerry Cox released a statement, saying, “This is a good ruling. Laws about discrimination are best left to the state and federal governments. The City of Fayetteville overstepped when it passed this ordinance. I’m glad the Arkansas Supreme Court understood that and struck the ordinance down.”

Cox criticized the Fayetteville ordinance, saying, “The ordinance granted special protections for people based on sexual orientation and gender identity, but it failed to protect religious Arkansans. Under this ordinance, a minister could have been penalized for declining to solemnize a same-sex marriage, and people of faith who own catering services, florist shops, wedding venues, and so on could have been penalized for declining to participate in or cater to same-sex ceremonies. One of the founding principles of our nation is the free exercise of religion. Fayetteville’s ordinance penalized people for living and operating according to their faith. The Arkansas Supreme Court did the right thing in striking this ordinance.”

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