Capitol Grounds Commission Recommends Space for Arkansas’ Monument to the Unborn

Abortion, , , ,

On Tuesday the Arkansas Capitol Arts and Grounds Commission agreed to recommend a location on the state capitol grounds for a monument honoring the unborn.

Act 310 of 2023 by Sen. Kim Hammer (R – Benton) and Rep. Mary Bentley (R – Perryville) authorizes a privately funded pro-life monument on the Arkansas Capitol Grounds. The Arts and Grounds Commission, which is responsible for the property around the capitol building, has debated where the monument ought to be located. Tuesday’s decision brings the monument another step closer to completion.

The monument will commemorate the 236,243 unborn children whose lives were lost to abortion from 1973 – 2022.

Now that Roe v. Wade has been overturned, and abortion is prohibited in Arkansas except to save the life of the mother, it’s important to remember the dignity and humanity of all unborn children.

Act 310 does that by establishing this monument as “a constant reminder of our duty to protect the life of every innocent human person, no matter how young or old, or how helpless and vulnerable that person may be.”

This monument to the unborn is more than just a structure. It is a powerful testament to Arkansas’ resolve to honor and protect innocent human life at all stages of development, from conception until natural death.

Arkansas Right to Life was the lead pro-life proponent of Act 310. Family Council was proud to support their efforts.

While Arkansas is making progress to build a monument to the unborn, an effort is also underway to write abortion into the state constitution.

Arkansans for Limited Government has until July 5 to collect 90,704 valid signatures from registered voters to place the Arkansas Abortion Amendment on the November ballot. According to public records, the group currently employs more than 100 paid petition canvassers gathering signatures for the ballot measure.

If passed, the Arkansas Abortion Amendment would write abortion into the state constitution, allowing thousands of elective abortions in Arkansas every year.

The amendment does not contain any medical licensing or health and safety standards for abortion.

The measure prevents the Arkansas Legislature from restricting abortion during the first five months of pregnancy, and it automatically nullifies all state laws that conflict with the amendment. That jeopardizes even the most basic health and safety restrictions on abortion.

The amendment’s health exceptions would permit abortion through all nine months of pregnancy in many cases.

It also would pave the way for publicly funded abortion in Arkansas by changing Amendment 68 to the Arkansas Constitution that currently prohibits taxpayer funded abortion in the state.

To date, multiple organizations have come out against the amendment, including:

  • Arkansas Right to Life
  • Family Council Action Committee
  • Choose Life Arkansas
  • NWA Coalition for Life
  • The Arkansas Committee For Ethics Policy
  • The Catholic Diocese of Little Rock
  • Saline Decline to Sign
  • Stronger Arkansas
  • Stop Abortion On Demand
  • Students for Life of America

You can download a copy of the Arkansas Abortion Amendment here.

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

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Group Spends More Than Half a Million Dollars on Pro-Marijuana Campaign in May: New Report

Marijuana

On Tuesday the group backing marijuana in Arkansas filed reports with the state Ethics Commission showing it spent $517,381 on its campaign during the month of May.

Arkansans for Patient Access has until July 5 to collect 90,704 valid signatures from registered voters to place its marijuana amendment on the ballot. If passed, the measure would drastically expand “medical” marijuana in Arkansas, making it easier for people to use marijuana recreationally.

All told, the group has raised and spent more than $1.1 million on its campaign. Arkansans for Patient Access currently has more than 400 paid canvassers hired to collect signatures for the ballot measure. The group’s funding primarily has come from businesses that grow or sell marijuana, and most of the money the campaign spent in May went toward its petition drive.

Among other things, the marijuana amendment fails to limit the amount of THC that marijuana and marijuana products can contain.

Marijuana users would no longer need to show they suffer from a specific medical condition listed in state law — making it easier for people to use marijuana recreationally.

The amendment lets people grow and use marijuana at home, and it would openly legalize marijuana in Arkansas if federal laws against marijuana are repealed.

The measure also repeals significant restrictions on marijuana advertising in Arkansas.

All of this would lead to more marijuana in Arkansas.

Arkansas voters rejected marijuana legalization at the ballot box in 2022. That amendment was opposed by a broad coalition of churches, business groups, elected officials, and citizens who knew that marijuana would be bad for Arkansas. We anticipate similar opposition to the 2024 marijuana amendment.

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

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Girls Deserve to Be Safe in Their Own Spaces

LGBT, Video, ,

Our friends at ADF recently released a video discussing the Biden Administration’s decision to redefine “sex” in Title IX — and how ADF is opposing that radical redefinition in Arkansas and elsewhere.

You can watch ADF’s video below.

Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin announced last month that his office and the Missouri Attorney General’s office are leading a legal challenge against the Biden administration’s recent reinterpretation of Title IX alongside our friends at Alliance Defending Freedom.

Title IX is a federal law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in education and in activities that receive federal funding — like school athletic programs.

But the Biden Administration recently released more than 1,500 pages of new rules drastically reinterpreting “sex” under Title IX to include sexual orientation and gender identity. Under these rules, public schools could be forced to let biological males compete in women’s sports and use girls’ locker rooms, showers, and changing areas at school.

Attorney General Griffin’s lawsuit alleges that the Biden Administration’s new rule is unconstitutional and threatens female students’ privacy and athletic opportunities.

We have written repeatedly about how women’s athletics is at risk of being erased in America.

In particular, female cyclists, swimmers, powerlifters, sprinters, and others have seen their sports radically changed by biological males who identify and compete as women.

Letting men compete in women’s sports reverses 50 years of advancements for women.

It hampers girls’ abilities to compete for athletic scholarships, and it hurts their professional opportunities as adults.

In some sports, it can even be dangerous.

Fortunately, educators, policymakers, and athletic organizations are taking steps to protect women’s sports.

Last fall the North American Grappling Association clarified its competition policy, saying biological males must compete against other men, regardless of their gender identity.

Earlier this year the professional golf league NXXT Golf announced that only biological females would be eligible to participate in the NXXT Women’s Pro Tour.

And recently the NAIA announced a policy that should prevent male athletes from competing in women’s collegiate sports.

Many states — including Arkansas — have enacted laws that preserve fairness in women’s sports.

In 2021 Arkansas passed Act 461 by Sen. Missy Irvin (R — Mountain View) and Rep. Sonia Barker (R — Smackover) preventing male student athletes from competing against girls in women’s athletics at school.

This good law protects fairness in women’s sports in Arkansas.

It’s worth pointing out that public opinion is shifting on this issue, with more Americans agreeing that athletes ought to compete according to their biological sex rather than their gender identity. With that in mind, we believe the Arkansas Attorney General’s office and Alliance Defending Freedom ultimately will succeed in court.

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

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