Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson Signs Law to Keep Planned Parenthood Out of Public Schools

On Wednesday Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson signed H.B. 1592, the Student Protection Act, into law.

This good law by Rep. Mark Lowery (R – Maumelle) prohibits public schools in Arkansas from engaging in transactions with abortion providers. It passed the Arkansas Legislature with strong support.

In March, Family Council obtained nearly 1,400 pages of documents that revealed how Planned Parenthood has worked in public schools in Pulaski County for several years.

We know from experience that the kind of sex-education that Planned Parenthood promotes simply is not as effective as other programs.

In the 1980s and 1990s liberals in Arkansas promoted Planned Parenthood-style sex-education in Arkansas’ public schools.

From 1991 to 1997 Arkansas’ teen birthrate decreased by 11% and Arkansas teen abortion rate decreased by 18%.

In 1997 the Arkansas Legislature and the Mike Huckabee Administration began promoting abstinence education in Arkansas.

From 1997 to 2005, Arkansas’ teen birthrate decreased 17%, but Arkansas’ teen abortion rate plummeted a staggering 48%.

Governor Huckabee’s abstinence education model was so successful in Arkansas that it drew national recognition.

In 2016 — while President Barack Obama was still in office — the federal Centers for Disease Control released a 208-page report concluding teenagers who practice abstinence are healthier in nearly every way than teenagers who are sexually active.

The CDC’s report looked at everything from seatbelt and bike helmet use to substance abuse, diet, exercise, and even tanning bed use.

Their conclusion was that sexually-active teens were less healthy and engaged in riskier behavior across the board.

H.B. 1592 will help make sure that abortionists don’t have access to Arkansas’ public school students, and it will help encourage schools to seek out better sex-ed curricula than what Planned Parenthood has to offer.