State Reports 0 Abortions in Arkansas During 2023

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Official reports from the Arkansas Department of Health’s Vital Statistics show no abortions occurred in the state during 2023.

Arkansas law generally prohibits abortion, but it contains exceptions for situations in which the mother’s life is at risk.

The state publishes annual reports every June documenting the number of abortions performed during the previous year.

The health department recently released three different reports showing the number of abortions performed last year, the number of women who experienced complications from abortion, and the number of abortions necessary to save the life of the mother. All three reports show 0 abortions during 2023.

In the past, Arkansas has averaged around 3,200 abortions per year. All in all, our team estimates Arkansas’ pro-life laws are protecting thousands of women and unborn children from abortion each year.

These reports are great news. Arkansas has successfully prohibited abortion except to save the life of the mother. Arkansas’ pro-life laws are protecting women, and they are saving unborn children. That is something to celebrate.

Right now an effort is underway in Arkansas that would repeal Arkansas’ pro-life laws and write abortion into the state constitution.

If passed, the Arkansas Abortion Amendment would allow thousands of elective abortions in Arkansas every year.

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

It contains sweeping health exceptions that would permit abortion on demand through all nine months of pregnancy in many cases.

The amendment 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.

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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Erasing Women

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The following is adapted from a column that appeared in Family Council’s June / July update letter.

One of the strangest things about expecting a baby in this day and age is that it is no longer politically correct to say “pregnant woman” or “mother.” When you go to the CDC, Cleveland Clinic, Evidence Based Birth, or other data-driven medical websites to obtain reputable medical information about pregnancy, you find the term “pregnant people” rather than “pregnant women.” I find it harder to trust information that refers to me as a “birthing person” or “pregnant person” instead of a “pregnant woman” or “mother.” 

Some of our national political leaders likewise use the term “birthing person” to avoid saying “pregnant woman” or “mother,” and one of our Supreme Court justices could not say what a woman is because she is “not a biologist.” If science, law, and politics goes down this path of not telling the truth, then the consequences will ultimately be worse healthcare and fewer legal protections for women because our healthcare, political, and legal systems are embracing as truth something that is false. 

When the most intelligent and esteemed people among us can no longer say that women have babies, this tells us where we are in society with regard to rejecting God’s standards. We are getting so far down the line that we are rejecting the simplest, most basic truths. What could be more basic than the truth that women–not men–have babies? This is part of our “brave new world” that also erases women by letting physically stronger men play in their sports and win their awards. 

Sin can be simply defined as rebellion against God’s design and order, including rejecting what He has said in His Word .And because sin is a progression (James 1:14-15), there is always a next step. These are just some stops along a long line of progressively rejecting more and more of God’s design. We start with rejecting that God has a unique design for male and female ,and then we begin allowing children to attempt to medically change their sex–regardless of the irreversible and sterilizing medical consequences. Statistics show that girls are much more likely to make the decision to attempt to change their sex than boys. 

I can’t help but think that the worst form of “erasing women” is abortion, though. Mother Teresa is often credited with saying, “Abortion is profoundly anti-women. Three quarters of its victims are women: Half the babies and all the mothers.” Abortion deprives women of their incredible, life-giving power granted to them by God. There is simply nothing like the ability to grow new life within you and then bring new life into the world. A culture that promotes abortion really disempowers women by undermining women’s unique attributes as given by God. The ultimate erasing of women and mothers comes not just by the terms used, but by being in a culture where women miss out on their own children. I hope Arkansas makes the choice to reject the Arkansas Abortion Amendment and instead chooses to be a culture that invests in advancing and protecting women, motherhood, and innocent human life.

Stephanie Nichols is Director and Chief Legal Counsel for Arkansas Justice Institute, a division of Family Council.

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What Does Arkansas’ Current Abortion Law Actually Say?

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In this photo from June 24, 2022, Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge (left) and Family Council President Jerry Cox hold the official certification that Roe is reversed and Act 180 of 2019 is in effect.

After the U.S. Supreme Court reversed Roe v. Wade, Act 180 of 2019 prohibiting abortion except to save the life of the mother took effect in Arkansas.

Below is a brief overview of what Act 180 says:

  • Act 180 prohibits abortion in Arkansas except to save the mother’s life. 
  • The law contains clear exceptions for ectopic pregnancies.
  • It contains clear exceptions for contraception—including the “morning after” pill or Plan B. 
  • Act 180 doesn’t criminalize miscarriage. It specifically allows procedures to remove an unborn baby who has died as a result of a miscarriage. 
  • The law cannot be used to prosecute a woman who has an illegal abortion.
  • Act 180 says anyone who performs an illegal abortion in Arkansas can be fined and imprisoned. 
  • The law doesn’t prohibit an OB/GYN from inducing labor or performing an emergency C-section or similar procedure to protect the mother or the unborn child.
  • Act 180 doesn’t prevent a pregnant woman from receiving medical treatments—such as chemotherapy—that carry risk for the unborn child. 

Act 180 of 2019 had 47 legislative sponsors and co-sponsors. Three-quarters of the Arkansas Legislature voted in favor of the measure, and Governor Hutchinson signed it into law.

Public opinion polling has shown 79% of likely voters in Arkansas believe abortion should be either completely illegal or legal only under certain circumstances. Act 180 reflects that. It generally prohibits abortion, but it makes exceptions for serious medical complications—like an ectopic pregnancy—and for circumstances when the mother’s life is in jeopardy.

You Can Read Act 180 of 2019 Here.

Right now an effort is underway in Arkansas that would repeal Act 180 and write abortion into the Arkansas Constitution.

If passed, the Arkansas Abortion Amendment would allow thousands of elective abortions in Arkansas every year.

The amendment does not contain any medical licensing or health and safety standards for abortion, and it automatically nullifies all state laws that conflict with the amendment. That jeopardizes even the most basic restrictions on abortion.

The amendment contains sweeping health exceptions that would permit abortion on demand through all nine months of pregnancy in many cases.

The amendment 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.

Arkansans have generally opposed taxpayer-funded abortion, but taxpayer-funded abortion through all nine months of pregnancy could become a reality in Arkansas if the abortion amendment passes.

You can download a copy of the abortion amendment here.

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

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