Planned Parenthood Announces It Will Fight Any Texas-Style “Heartbeat” Legislation in Arkansas

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Above: Planned Parenthood’s chemical abortion facility in Little Rock.

According to the Arkansas Times, this week Planned Parenthood Great Plains Votes announced it will strongly oppose any effort to introduce a pro-life heartbeat law at the Arkansas Legislature like the one recently enacted in Texas.

The Texas law generally prohibits abortion after an unborn baby’s heartbeat can be detected. As a result of the law, abortion facilities in Texas have been closed for the past several weeks.

If Arkansas does not pass a Texas-style heartbeat law, then we could see more women travel to Little Rock from out-of-state for abortions — much like we did during the COVID-19 shutdowns in 2020.

Sen. Jason Rapert (R – Conway) has indicated that he hopes to introduce a Texas-style heartbeat law during an upcoming special session of the Arkansas Legislature. Sen. Rapert successfully secured passage of a heartbeat law in 2013, but the federal courts struck down most of that law.

Planned Parenthood operates two facilities in Arkansas.

The Little Rock facility performs drug-induced abortions that poison unborn children in the womb. Planned Parenthood recently opened a center in Rogers, and has said it hopes that location will be licensed to perform abortions by the end of this year.

Planned Parenthood’s strategy for opposing a Texas-style heartbeat measure in Arkansas appears to be threefold:

  1. Launching an aggressive statewide campaign to defeat any Texas-style heartbeat law in Arkansas.
  2. Communicating with more than 20,000 Arkansans about the legislation.
  3. Hosting events across the state to oppose the legislation.

Planned Parenthood’s statement indicates it has hired additional staff to carry out its agenda in Arkansas.

Planned Parenthood almost certainly faces an uphill battle when it comes to opposing pro-life legislation in Arkansas.

This year the state legislature passed more pro-life laws than any other state in America — including a law that prohibits virtually all abortions in Arkansas — despite opposition from Planned Parenthood and others. These new laws could save thousands of women and unborn children from abortion for years to come.

Public opinion polling shows Arkansans are overwhelmingly pro-life, and most believe abortion ought to be either completely illegal or legal only under certain circumstances.

Arkansas’ abortion numbers have been in decline since the 1990s. In fact, as of last year the number of abortions performed annually in Arkansas remains near historic lows.

Slowly but surely Arkansans are winning the fight to end abortion.

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Marianna Passes Pro-Life Resolution, Becomes Arkansas’ Second Pro-Life City

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Above: Ronni Schwantz looks on while Mayor Jimmy Williams of Marianna signs a resolution affirming that the city is pro-life. Marianna is Arkansas’ second Pro-Life City.

On Tuesday night the Marianna City Council passed a resolution affirming that the city is Pro-Life.

The resolution reads,

A RESOLTUION AFFIRMING THE COMMITMENT OF THE CITY OF MARIANNA, ARKANSAS TO PROTECTING THE UNALIENABLE RIGHT TO LIFE OF EVERY PERSON; AND DECLARING THE CITY OF MARIANNA, ARKANSAS TO BE A PRO-LIFE CITY.

WHEREAS, the Declaration of Independence declares that all men are created equal, and that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, including the right to life; and

WHEREAS, Amendment 68 to the Arkansas Constitution states that the policy of the State of Arkansas is to protect the life of every unborn child from conception until birth; and

WHEREAS, it is the duty of state and local governments to protect the unalienable right to life of every person within their respective jurisdictions; and

WHEREAS, the United States Supreme Court stated in Poelker v. Doe, 432 U.S. 519 (1977), that the United States Constitution does not forbid a municipality, pursuant to democratic processes, from expressing a preference for normal childbirth instead of abortion;

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the City Council of the City of Marianna, Arkansas:

Section 1: It is the policy of the City of Marianna to promote and protect the dignity and humanity of all persons at all stages of life from conception until natural death.

Section 2: The City of Marianna declares itself to be a Pro-Life City.

Marianna is Arkansas’ second Pro-Life City. The City of Springdale passed a similar resolution in 2019. This year Washington, Benton, Crawford, Cleburne, Pope, Jackson, Saline, and Faulkner counties have passed pro-life resolutions as well.

Act 392 of 2021 affirms that municipalities in Arkansas can designate themselves as Pro-Life.

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that municipalities can adopt pro-life policy positions like these resolutions.

In fact, any city, town, or county in Arkansas can pass a pro-life resolution like the ones that these communities have passed.

Public opinion polling shows Arkansans are overwhelmingly pro-life. We hope other communities will pass their own pro-life resolutions — just like the City of Marianna.

If you would like to learn more about how you can pass a pro-life resolution in your community, give us a call at (501) 375-7000 or click here.

Above: A photo of Marianna’s pro-life resolution approved on October 12, 2021.

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Arkansas Lottery Still Spends Most of Its Money On Prizes, Little On Scholarships: September Report

Arkansas Lottery

Financial reports released Monday show the Arkansas Lottery is still paying the state’s college scholarships pennies on the dollar, and that the lion’s share of the Lottery’s revenue is going to prizes awarded to lottery players.

In September only 19.5% of the Lottery’s revenue went to scholarships. Seventy percent went to prizes.

For perspective, the typical state lottery budgets approximately 25% – 30% of its revenue for education and about 60% for prizes.

The Arkansas Lottery could pay millions of dollars more to scholarships every year if it simply would reduce its prize budget and raise its scholarship budget. Unfortunately, the Lottery has shown little interest in doing that.

Below is a breakdown of lottery revenue, scholarships, and prizes for Fiscal Year 2022.

Scholarship Spending

MonthGross Lottery RevenuePaid to Scholarships% Going to Scholarships
July$47,591,757.56$8,338,564.1317.5%
August50,243,929.036,786,603.7513.5%
September46,864,567.909,160,216.2219.5%
Total$144,700,254.49$24,285,384.1016.8%

Prize Spending

MonthGross Lottery RevenueTotal Prizes% Going to Prizes
July$47,591,757.56$33,228,956.6669.8%
August50,243,929.0333,998,197.5967.7%
September46,864,567.9032,794,810.0470.0%
Total$144,700,254.49$100,021,964.2969.1%

Photo Credit: Powerball and Mega Millions Lottery Billboard in Missouri by Tony Webster, on Flickr.

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