Throwback: Pro-Life Activists Arrested at Surgical Abortion Facility in Little Rock (January 15, 2021)

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Above: A Little Rock police officer arrests a pro-lifer outside the state’s only surgical abortion facility on January 15, 2021.

A version of the following article originally appeared in Family Council’s February, 2021, update letter.

A little before 8:00 AM on Friday, January 15, 2021, Little Rock police arrested seven pro-life activists for criminal trespassing at Little Rock Family Planning Services — Arkansas’ only surgical abortion facility.

Videos streamed and posted on YouTube and Facebook show seven people blocking the entrance to Little Rock Family Planning. At least six police cruisers and numerous officers responded to the situation and arrested the pro-lifers while an estimated 30 pro-life advocates prayed and protested from the sidewalks outside the facility.

Those arrested appeared to be part of a pro-life group that came to Little Rock from out of state to protest abortion and block the abortion facility.

Police promptly released all seven people once they were removed from Little Rock Family Planning Services’ property. At this time, we do not know of any charges pending against them. According to information anti-abortion groups circulated on Facebook, among those arrested were a teenage girl and an elderly woman who survived a communist gulag. Obviously, we do not blame the police for doing their job in enforcing Little Rock’s laws against trespassing.

Although it isn’t very common, this is not the first time that pro-lifers have been arrested for blocking an abortion facility entrance in Little Rock. On July 8, 1994, Little Rock police arrested 29 people from Operation Rescue. The individuals had traveled to Little Rock, where they blocked the entrance to an abortion facility that Dr. Mose Smith operated down the street from War Memorial Stadium; that facility has long since shut down.

As we said in July of 1994, Family Council agrees with stopping abortion through any legal means. We’ve never utilized the more aggressive tactics that some groups use. The folks from out of state who came to Little Rock last year and Family Council both have a mutual goal of ending abortion. That’s what matters to us.

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Legalizing Marijuana Linked to Increase in Driving While High, Traffic Deaths

Marijuana

A study published this month in The New England Journal of Medicine shows Canada saw a dramatic increase in driving while high following legalization of marijuana in 2018.

The study examined 4,339 drivers treated after car accidents in British Columbia.

Researchers studied levels of THC — the active ingredient in marijuana — found in the blood of injured drivers.

The study’s authors concluded that, “the prevalence of moderately injured drivers with a THC level of at least 2 ng [nanograms] per milliliter in participating British Columbia trauma centers more than doubled” after Canada legalized marijuana in 2018.

Researchers noted that the increase in driving while high was largest among older drivers and male drivers.

These findings track with other research about the dangers of driving under the influence of marijuana following legalization.

In 2020 a AAA Foundation study found that the estimated number of drivers involved in fatal crashes in Washington State doubled after legalization of marijuana.

Another AAA Foundation study published last year found that, “People who use both alcohol and marijuana are some of the most dangerous drivers on the road,” and that “drivers who use both marijuana and alcohol were significantly more prone to driving under the influence of alcohol versus those who only drink alcohol but do not use marijuana.”

In September of 2020 the Rocky Mountain High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area released a report that found:

* Since recreational marijuana was legalized in 2013, traffic deaths in which drivers tested positive for marijuana increased 135% while all Colorado traffic deaths increased 24%.

* Since recreational marijuana was legalized, traffic deaths involving drivers who tested positive for marijuana more than doubled from 55 in 2013 to 129 people killed in 2019. This equates to one person killed every 3 1/2 days in 2019 compared to one person killed every 6 1/2 days in 2013.

* Since recreational marijuana was legalized, the percentage of all Colorado traffic deaths that were marijuana related increased from 15% in 2013 to 25% in 2019.

States that are thinking about legalizing recreational marijuana need to take a serious look at the unintended consequences other states have suffered — such as increased car accidents and traffic fatalities

All of this underscores what we have said for years: Marijuana may be many things, but “harmless” simply is not one of them.

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