Bill Filed to Improve Arkansas’ Restrictions on Abortion Drugs

Abortion, , , ,

On Wednesday Rep. Sonia Barker (R – Smackover) and Sen. Blake Johnson (R – Corning) filed H.B. 1402 improving Arkansas’ restrictions on drugs like RU-486 that doctors use in chemical abortions.

H.B. 1402 outlines requirements that abortionists must follow in administering abortion-inducing drugs, and it prohibits abortion drugs from being delivered by mail in Arkansas.

It also updates current law to ensure doctors who perform chemical abortions are credentialed to handle abortion complications and can transfer the woman to a hospital if she experiences complications.

Since 2015, we’ve seen a push at the federal level to make abortion-inducing drugs easier to obtain.

Under President Obama’s watch, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration changed the protocols for the RU-486 regimen. These changes made it easier for abortionists to give abortion-inducing drugs to women.

Pro-abortion activists also have taken legal action demanding that abortion drugs be available by mail rather than in-person from a doctor’s office.

H.B. 1402 will help act as a shield if the Biden Administration or the courts decide to relax these federal abortion rules any further. It also helps further clarify Arkansas’ restrictions on chemical abortions.

That has the potential to protect a lot of unborn children in Arkansas.

You can read H.B. 1402 here.

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Bill Declaring Religion as Essential Passes Senate, Goes to Governor

Legislation, Legislature, Religious Freedom, , ,

On Wednesday the Arkansas Senate overwhelmingly passed H.B. 1211.

This good bill by Rep. Mary Bentley (R – Perryville) and Sen. Kim Hammer (R – Benton) recognizes that religion and religious organizations are essential in Arkansas.

In other states we’ve seen churches and religious organizations singled out during the COVID-19 pandemic. H.B. 1211 helps prevent that from ever happening in Arkansas.

Public officials have the authority to protect health and public safety, but the the free exercise of religion is never suspended.

H.B. 1211 ensures our government never closes churches during a disaster or other emergency.

It prevents the government from penalizing a church that meets during an emergency, and it requires churches to comply with the same basic health and safety standards as everyone else.

Churches and charities support their communities during an emergency. They need to be free to serve people without worrying that the government might punish them. H.B. 1211 provides that protection.

H.B. 1211 passed with overwhelming support in the Arkansas House and Arkansas Senate. It now goes to Governor Hutchinson’s desk to be signed into law.

Below is a breakdown of how the Arkansas Senate voted on H.B. 1211.

Voted For The Bill

  • B. Ballinger
  • Beckham
  • Bledsoe
  • Caldwell
  • L. Chesterfield
  • A. Clark
  • B. Davis
  • J. Dismang
  • L. Eads
  • J. English
  • Flippo
  • S. Flowers
  • T. Garner
  • Gilmore
  • K. Hammer
  • J. Hendren
  • Hester
  • Hickey
  • Hill
  • Irvin
  • M. Johnson
  • B. Johnson
  • M. Pitsch
  • Rapert
  • Rice
  • B. Sample
  • G. Stubblefield
  • J. Sturch
  • D. Sullivan
  • Teague
  • D. Wallace

Voted Against The Bill

None.

Voted “Present” On The Bill

  • Elliott
  • K. Ingram
  • G. Leding
  • C. Tucker

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Is Buttigieg’s Confirmation Historic?

LGBT
John Stonestreet, Radio Host and President of the Colson Center for Christian Worldview.

CNN’s Jake Tapper, along with many others in the media, used the word “historic” to announce that Pete Buttigieg would be the next U.S. Secretary of Transportation. Headlines made sure to note Buttigieg is the first Senate-confirmed LGBTQ cabinet member in U.S. history. 

Buttigieg is former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, a great town but not one with a complicated public transportation system. When his nomination was announced, Buttigieg tweeted he “loved” transportation and had even proposed to his husband in an airport terminal. Other than that, it’s not clear why President Biden thought him the most qualified person for the job. 

To use the term “historic” is to diminish the word, to diminish Buttigieg (who is more than his sexuality), and to diminish his new office, which merits someone with appropriate qualifications. 

If firing someone because of their gender identity or sexual orientation is discriminatory, isn’t hiring someone for the same reason just as discriminatory? 

Either way, it’s not progress, and it’s certainly not historic.

Copyright 2021 by the Colson Center for Christian Worldview. Reprinted from BreakPoint.org with permission.

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