Tuesday marks three years since the U.S. Supreme Court reversed the 1973 Roe v. Wade abortion decision.
Thanks to that ruling, abortion in Arkansas is generally prohibited except to save the life of the mother.
Arkansans also have proven time and again that they are deeply pro-life, and lawmakers have rejected efforts to legalize abortion.
The state legislature has passed good measures this year that further clarify those pro-life laws.
And Arkansas has given millions of dollars to help support women with unplanned pregnancies and promote maternal wellness.
One question that remains unanswered is how many women from Arkansas are traveling out-of-state for abortions, and how many are ordering dangerous abortion pills online. Nobody knows for sure, but the data paints a mixed picture.
The CDC’s most recent abortion numbers are from 2022, and they show some Arkansans traveling to Kansas, Illinois, and other states for abortion. But Roe v. Wade wasn’t overturned until mid-2022 — so those numbers aren’t complete.
The Journal of the American Medical Association conservatively estimates more than 300 children were born in Arkansas in 2023 as a direct result of the state’s pro-life laws. That means Arkansas’ pro-life laws are certainly saving lives.
However, the State of Kansas reports 728 women from Arkansas had abortions in Kansas during 2023. That’s an increase from previous years.
And anecdotally, pregnancy resource center directors have told us stories of young women coming to them after ordering abortion pills online.
Based on the numbers that are available, it seems safe to say that far fewer abortions are being performed on women from Arkansas now than three years ago, but at this time there is no way to know exactly how many.
All of this underscores that while Arkansas’ pro-life laws are doing a lot of good, we need to work hard to make abortion unthinkable as well.
Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.
