FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, August 7, 2020

On Friday the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals lifted a lower court ruling against four pro-life laws the Arkansas Legislature passed in 2017.

Family Council President Jerry Cox issued a statement saying, “This is a very good ruling. It paves the way for the enforcement of these good laws. These laws protect women from dangerous surgical abortion procedures. They help prevent babies’ organs from being harvested and sold to researchers. They expand the reporting requirements for abortions performed on underage girls. And they require abortionists to request part of a woman’s medical history before performing some abortions. These are good laws that never should have been blocked in the first place.”

Cox said the laws will save women and unborn children from abortion. “One of the laws that the court unblocked today is a dismemberment abortion ban. It prohibits certain surgical abortion procedures that dismember the unborn baby. Prohibiting these dismemberment abortions will save the lives of hundreds of babies every year, and it will protect women from an abortion procedure that carries a number of risks.”

Cox praised the Arkansas General Assembly, Governor Hutchinson, and Attorney General Rutledge. “Arkansas’ lawmakers passed these good laws, and Governor Hutchinson signed them. This good outcome never would have occurred without the work of Attorney General Leslie Rutledge and her staff who have fought tirelessly to defend every good, pro-life law passed by the General Assembly. This is a good ruling, and we look forward to future victories like it.”

Family Council is a conservative education and research organization based in Little Rock, Arkansas.

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