The ACLU and abortionists have joined in a lawsuit challenging common-sense abortion restrictions in Ohio.
If successful, the lawsuit would overturn informed-consent laws that require abortionists in Ohio to give women information about abortion and provide them with at least 24 hours to consider their options before proceeding with the abortion.
Since Ohio enshrined abortion in its state constitution last year, the lawsuit claims the informed-consent requirements unconstitutionally “delay” abortions in the state. The case provides a glimpse of what could happen if the Arkansas Abortion Amendment of 2024 passes this year.
The proposed Arkansas abortion measure would write abortion into the state constitution, and it says the state cannot “prohibit, penalize, delay, or restrict abortion” during the first five months of pregnancy — allowing thousands of elective abortions every year and paving the way for taxpayer-funded abortions in Arkansas.
The Arkansas Abortion Amendment also contains sweeping health exceptions for abortion throughout all nine months of pregnancy, and it nullifies all state abortion laws that conflict with the amendment — jeopardizing informed-consent laws that offer women critical information about the abortion procedure.
In 2015, the Arkansas Legislature passed Act 1086, the Woman’s Right to Know Act, requiring abortionists to explain the abortion procedure — including its risks, its consequences, and its alternatives — before performing an abortion.
The Woman’s Right to Know Act passed with strong, bipartisan support in the Arkansas Legislature.
Data from the Arkansas Department of Health indicates that from August 1, 2015, to June 24, 2022, over 3,500 women chose not to have abortions after receiving the information outlined in this one law.
The lawsuit in Ohio illustrates how informed-consent requirements in Arkansas could be challenged and nullified if voters write unrestricted abortion into the Arkansas Constitution by passing the proposed abortion amendment.
