Arkansans Believe Abortion Should Be Illegal: Survey

Abortion, , , ,

A recent survey by Pew Research Center shows most Arkansans believe abortion should be illegal.

Over the years, public opinion polling has shown time and again that most Arkansans are pro-life and strongly oppose abortion on demand.

Pew’s latest survey reveals how people’s views on abortion vary from state to state — and how many states are divided on the issue.

“In states like Nebraska and Utah,” Pew writes, “attitudes are split almost down the middle. In Wyoming, Kentucky and Louisiana, 54% say abortion should be legal while 45% say it should be illegal. But these differences are not statistically significant.”

According to Pew’s article, the survey found 57% of Arkansans believe abortion should be prohibited in all or most cases.

Pew notes, “Meanwhile, people in Arkansas are more likely to say abortion should generally be illegal (57%) rather than legal (41%). Arkansas is the only state where the balance of public opinion is against abortion by a statistically significant margin.“

It’s been nearly three years since the U.S. Supreme Court reversed Roe v. Wade. Today, abortion in Arkansas is generally prohibited except to save the life of the mother. 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.

All of this goes to show that Arkansas is a deeply pro-life state when it comes to public policy as well as public opinion.

Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.

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Southern Baptist Convention Affirms Biblical Views on Marriage, Gender-Identity

Marriage, , , ,

The Associated Press reports the Southern Baptist Convention passed a resolution affirming marriage as the union of one man and one woman and opposing transgender ideology during its annual meeting in Dallas on Tuesday.

The convention also hosted a conversation with Tennessee’s attorney general and with an Alliance Defending Freedom attorney regarding laws that protect children from sex-change procedures.

This month marks ten years since the U.S. Supreme Court issued its Obergefell v. Hodges decision that struck down state marriage laws nationwide.

From 2004 to 2015, voters in more than three-fifths of the country democratically passed laws and amendments defining marriage in their respective states. In most cases, those measures defined marriage as the union of one man and one woman. The Obergefell ruling nullified all of those state laws.

The Southern Baptist Convention’s resolution affirms biblical marriage as the union of one man and one woman, and it calls for the reversal of the supreme court’s bad Obergefell ruling. It also opposes the normalization of transgender ideology.

Some member of the media have seemed surprised the Sothern Baptist Convention would approve a resolution like this, but there really should not be anything shocking about a Christian denomination holding Christian beliefs on marriage and gender-identity.

In 2004, the SBC approved a pro-marriage resolution saying, “The union of one man and one woman is the only form of marriage prescribed in the Bible as God’s perfect design for the family.” That resolution also called for passage of a federal marriage amendment defining marriage in America as the union of one man and one woman.

In 2014, the convention approved a resolution affirming “God’s good design that gender identity is determined by biological sex and not by one’s self-perception.”

In light of that, the SBC’s latest resolution isn’t exactly new.

Support for same-sex marriage has actually declined in recent years, and about half the states —including Arkansas — have passed laws protecting children from sex-change procedures. Many of the world’s leading health experts have found these procedures are dangerous. Americans have also expressed widespread backlash against corporations that pander to pro-LGBT groups.

Reversing the U.S. Supreme Court’s Obergefell decision does not seem likely right now, but the same thing seemed true of Roe v. Wade 50 years ago. We appreciate the Southern Baptist Convention maintaining its biblical convictions regarding marriage and gender-identity.

Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.

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Court Battle Brews Over Arkansas’ Ten Commandments Law

Religious Freedom, ,

On Wednesday the ACLU filed a lawsuit on behalf of seven families in Northwest Arkansas to block a new state law placing the Ten Commandments in schools and public buildings across the state.

Some years ago Arkansas passed a law requiring a copy of the national motto, “In God We Trust” to be displayed in public schools and other public buildings.

Act 573 of 2025 by Sen. Jim Dotson (R — Bentonville) and Rep. Alyssa Brown (R — Heber Springs) requires a historical copy of the Ten Commandments to be displayed as well.

Over the years, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that items that are important to our nation’s history — like the Ten Commandments or the national motto — may be honored and recognized publicly without running afoul of the First Amendment.

The Ten Commandments are one of the earliest examples of the rule of law in human history, and they have had a profound impact in shaping America’s concept of the rule of law as well.

Act 573 simply recognizes their significance. The measure received strong support in the Arkansas Legislature earlier this year, and the governor signed it into law on April 14. Act 573 is slated to take effect later this summer.

However, on Wednesday the ACLU sued the Fayetteville School District, the Springdale School District, the Bentonville School District, and the Siloam Springs School District to block Act 573.

The ACLU’s lawsuit claims,

“Permanently posting the Ten Commandments in every classroom and library—rendering them unavoidable—unconstitutionally pressures students into religious observance, veneration, and adoption of the state’s favored religious scripture. It also sends the harmful and religiously divisive message that students who do not subscribe to the Ten Commandments—or, more precisely, to the specific version of the Ten Commandments that Act 573 requires schools to display—do not belong in their own school community and pressures them to refrain from expressing any faith practices or beliefs that are not aligned with the state’s religious preferences.”

Hanging a copy of the Ten Commandments on the wall of a school or library does not “pressure” anyone, and it certainly is not “harmful” or “divisive.”

Besides being culturally and historically significant, copies of the Ten Commandments have often appeared in artwork at courthouses and similar locations around the country.

During her testimony in support of Act 573 last April, Rep. Alyssa Brown noted that the U.S. Supreme Court uses a “longstanding history and tradition test” to decide if it is constitutional to display something like a copy of the Ten Commandments. Rep. Brown said “the Ten Commandments without a doubt will pass this longstanding history and tradition test.”

We believe our federal courts ultimately will agree and uphold Act 573 as constitutional.

Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.

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