One Year Ago: Arkansas House Rejected Bad End-of-Life Legislation

Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide, ,

One year ago today the Arkansas House Representatives rejected two bad pieces of end-of-life legislation.

The first was H.B. 1685.

This bad bill would have let healthcare workers who are not physicians work through end-of-life decisions with patients and family members.

It did not require healthcare workers making these decisions to have appropriate training in end-of-life care.

The bill also would have made it easier to deny a dying person food or water.

H.B. 1685 received 31 votes. Fifty-five representatives voted against it.

The second was H.B. 1686. 

This bad bill would have let healthcare workers who are not physicians complete Physician Order for Life-Sustaining Treatment (POLST) forms.

It would have removed an important provision in state law that says a POLST form is not intended to replace an advance directive.

It inadvertently would have prevented consulting physicians — such as palliative care physicians — from completing POLST forms with patients.

H.B. 1686 received 38 votes. Forty-eight representatives voted against it.

Both bills were opposed by several different groups, including:

  • National Right to Life
  • Arkansas Right to Life
  • Euthanasia Prevention Coalition USA
  • Family Council
  • Northwest Arkansas Respect Life
  • Arkansas Advocates for Nursing Home Residents

As we keep saying, being pro-life means believing that human life is sacred from conception until natural death.

It means treating human life with respect at every stage of development.

Just like abortion, euthanasia and assisted-suicide are murder, and they violate the sanctity of human life.

READ MORE

National Right to Life and Arkansas Right to Life Political Action Committee Endorses Representatives Crawford, Hill, Womack and Westerman

Abortion, , ,

The following is a press release from Arkansas Right to Life PAC and National Right to Life.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 11, 2022

FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Rose Mimms, Executive Director
501-663-4237 or 501-920-2276

National Right to Life and Arkansas Right to Life Political Action Committee 
Endorses Representatives Crawford, Hill, Womack and Westerman

National Right to Life, along with Arkansas Right to Life Political Action Committee, announced their joint endorsement of all four members of Arkansas’s Congressional Delegation for re-election: Congressman Rick Crawford (Arkansas’s 1st District), Congressman French Hill (Arkansas’s 2nd District), Congressman Steve Womack (Arkansas’s 3rd District), and Congressman Bruce Westerman (Arkansas’s 4th District).

“National Right to Life is pleased to endorse Congressmen Rick Crawford, French Hill, Steve Womack, and Bruce Westerman for re-election,” said Carol Tobias, president of National Right to Life. “All four Congressmen maintained pro-life voting records in the U.S. House. Their unwavering commitment to the right to life stands in stark contrast to the pro-abortion agenda pushed by Speaker Pelosi and Congressional Democrats that threatens to expand abortion-on-demand for any reason and force taxpayers to pay for abortions.”

“Arkansas Right to Life PAC is grateful for the strong pro-life leadership of Congressmen Rick Crawford, French Hill, Steve Womack, and Bruce Westerman,” said Rose Mimms, executive director of Arkansas Right to Life. “That every member of the Arkansas Congressional Delegation is a champion for life is a testament to the hard work and perseverance of pro-life grassroots leaders and volunteers across our state. We encourage voters to return Congressmen Crawford, Hill, Womack, and Westerman to Congress so they may continue to advocate for policies that respect human life from conception to natural death.”

The Arkansas Congressional Delegation co-sponsored and voted for the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act. This legislation would protect unborn children at 20 weeks, a point by which the unborn child is capable of experiencing great pain when being killed by dismemberment or other late abortion methods.

The Arkansas Congressional Delegation voted numerous times against using tax dollars to pay for abortion, and they oppose taxpayer funding of abortion providers. They support the longstanding Hyde Amendment, which prohibits federal funds from being used to pay for abortions.

The Arkansas Congressional Delegation voted against the so-called Women’s Health Protection Act, which should be called the no-limits-on-abortion-until-birth act, which would enshrine abortion in federal law and policies and would tear down protective laws on the state level, including Arkansas’s parental involvement and informed consent laws.

“The four members of Congress from Arkansas have worked to see that all innocent human life is protected, and they are committed to strengthening a culture of life nationwide,” said Tobias. “We look forward to continuing our important work with Congressmen Crawford, Hill, Womack, and Westerman to protect the most vulnerable members of the human family.”

Founded in 1968, the National Right to Life Committee (NRLC), the federation of affiliates in each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia and more than 3,000 local chapters, is the nation’s oldest and largest grassroots pro-life organization. Recognized as the flagship of the pro-life movement, National Right to Life works through legislation and education to protect innocent human life from abortion, infanticide, assisted suicide and euthanasia.

For more information contact Mimms at 501-663-4237 or email communications@artl.org.

–30–

Arkansas Right to Life is the state affiliate of the National Right to Life Committee the oldest and largest pro-life organization. For more information visit https://artl.org/.

READ MORE