On Tuesday the House Judiciary Committee passed a bill clarifying that abortion by fraud is a crime in Arkansas.
H.B. 1551 by Rep. Jimmy Gazaway (R — Paragould) makes it a felony to try to kill an unborn child by secretly giving a pregnant woman abortion-inducing drugs without her knowledge or consent.
Right now abortion in Arkansas is generally prohibited except to save the life of the mother, and it is illegal to deliver abortion-inducing drugs into the state. Arkansas also has laws prohibiting fetal homicide. However, Arkansas has no specific law addressing situations in which a person secretly gives abortion drugs like RU-486 to a pregnant woman.
The Associated Press has reported that in 2022 abortion drugs were secretly placed in Catherine Herring’s water in order to cause the death of her unborn child.
Ms. Herring suffered serious health complications and had to be hospitalized as a result. Since then, states have begun proposing laws like H.B. 1551 to prevent this type of crime.
Ms. Herring testified in support of H.B. 1551 during Tuesday’s committee meeting, and shared her story as a survivor of domestic violence with Arkansas lawmakers.
H.B. 1551 is a good bill that will help prevent horrific crimes like this one from happening in Arkansas. The bill now goes to the entire Arkansas House of Representatives for consideration.
Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.
