Last week voters in Louisiana overwhelmingly supported adding a pro-life amendment to their state’s constitution.
The amendment reads,
“To protect human life, nothing in this constitution shall be construed to secure or protect a right to abortion or require the funding of abortion.”
The language is very similar to Arkansas’s constitutional amendment 68 that voters passed in 1988.
Arkansas’ pro-life amendment reads,
1. Public funding.
No public funds will be used to pay for any abortion, except to save the mother’s life.
2. Public policy.
The policy of Arkansas is to protect the life of every unborn child from conception until birth, to the extent permitted by the Federal Constitution.
3. Effect of amendment.
This amendment will not affect contraceptives or require an appropriation of public funds.
According to different news outlets, Louisiana’s pro-life amendment makes it more difficult to challenge the state’s trigger law that prohibits abortion if and when the U.S. Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade.
Arkansas passed a trigger law similar to Louisiana’s in 2019.
Act 180 of 2019 by Sen. Jason Rapert (R – Conway) and Rep. Mary Bentley (R – Perryville) prohibits abortion in Arkansas if Roe v. Wade is overturned. The bill was hotly debated at the Arkansas Legislature, but ultimately passed and was signed into law last year.
Arkansas’ and Louisiana’s pro-life trigger laws and pro-life constitutional amendments are very similar and just go to show how states increasingly are taking steps to end abortion and defend the unborn.
