Arkansas’ Congressmen, Senators Sign Letters Opposing Taxpayer-Funded Abortion

Abortion, , ,

Arkansas’ four U.S. Congressmen and two U.S. Senators recently signed letters opposing efforts to pay for abortions with taxpayer funds.

The letters come as President Biden has rescinded U.S. policies preventing taxpayers from funding organizations that support abortion overseas and has recently made statements opposing the Hyde Amendment that prohibits taxpayer-funded abortion at home.

The letter that U.S. Senators John Boozman and Tom Cotton signed says,

Abortion is not health care; rather, it is a brutal procedure that destroys the life of an innocent unborn child. The Hyde Amendment reflects a consensus that millions of pro-life Americans who are profoundly opposed to abortion should not be coerced into paying for it or incentivizing it with their taxpayer dollars.

U.S. Representatives Hill, Womack, Crawford, and Westerman joined with some 200 congressmen in signing a letter that says,

The Hyde Amendment alone has saved the lives of over 2 million innocent babies and continues to protect the conscience rights of a vast majority of Americans opposed to publicly funded abortions. We cannot allow the Hyde Amendment and other important pro-life safeguards to be decimated by Congressional Democrats. Accordingly, we pledge to vote against any government funding bill that eliminates or weakens the Hyde Amendment or other current-law, pro-life appropriations provisions.

Public opinion polling has shown again and again that Americans don’t want to pay for abortions with their tax dollars.

Without the Hyde Amendment, even if you don’t support abortion and you don’t have an abortion, you could still be forced to pay for an abortion with your taxes.

Fortunately, Arkansas’ congressional delegation is pushing back against efforts to fund abortions with public dollars.

READ MORE

Senate Public Health Committee Advances Bill to End Abortion in Arkansas

Abortion, Legislation, , , ,
Sen. Jason Rapert (R – Conway) presents S.B. 6 in the Senate Public Health Committee on Wednesday, February 10, 2021.

On Wednesday the Senate Public Health Committee advanced S.B. 6 by Sen. Jason Rapert (R – Conway) and Rep. Mary Bentley (R – Perryville) on a unanimous voice vote.

If enacted, this good bill would prevent abortion in Arkansas except in cases when the mother’s life is at risk and give the U.S. Supreme Court an opportunity to overturn Roe v. Wade, Doe v. Bolton, Planned Parenthood v. Casey, and other pro-abortion decisions.

Family Council fully supports the passage of this good measure. This is an opportunity for Arkansas to be a real leader in the effort to end abortion in America.

Many people have been saying for almost fifty years that abortion should be illegal. The time has come for us to make it so.

Several pro-lifers, including Rose Mimms of Arkansas Right to Life, testified in favor of the bill in Wednesday’s committee meeting.

Members of the Arkansas Abortion Support Network testified against the bill.

S.B. 6 now goes to the entire Arkansas Senate for consideration; most of the members of the Arkansas Senate are co-sponsoring this good bill.

READ MORE

Planned Parenthood, ACLU Opposing Conscience Protections, Pro-Life Legislation in Arkansas

Abortion, Legislature, Rights of Conscience, , , , ,

Planned Parenthood and the ACLU are actively opposing two good pieces of legislation in Arkansas:

S.B. 289 by Sen. Kim Hammer (R – Benton) protecting healthcare professionals’ rights of conscience and S.B. 6 by Sen. Jason Rapert (R – Conway) prohibiting abortion except when the mother’s life is at risk.

Here is a little of what Planned Parenthood and the ACLU are telling people:

Here’s what S.B. 289 actually does:

S.B. 289 helps protect healthcare professionals’ rights of conscience.

Current law gives healthcare workers narrow protections for their rights of conscience.

S.B. 289 broadens these conscience protections for healthcare workers and ensures that healthcare professionals have equal conscience protections.

Arkansas’ healthcare payers currently have no specific conscience protections, and Arkansas law does not address discrimination or retaliation against medical professionals or companies who have conscientious objections to certain procedures. Current law also does not provide specific legal remedies for victims of discrimination or retaliation.

S.B. 289 simply helps address these problems.

Here’s what S.B. 6 actually does:

S.B. 6 prohibits abortion except in cases of medical emergency when the woman’s life is at risk.

The bill is similar to Arkansas’ abortion statutes prior to Roe v. Wade.

S.B. 6’s exception allowing abortion when the woman’s life is at risk tracks with Amendment 68 to the Arkansas Constitution, which says it is the policy of the State of Arkansas to protect the lives of unborn children and contains exceptions for abortions performed to save the life of the woman.

Passing S.B. 6 would give the courts an opportunity to reverse decades of pro-abortion decisions.

If enforced, S.B. 6 would save the lives of thousands of unborn children in Arkansas every year.

These are two really good bills that Planned Parenthood and the ACLU appear to be trying to stop in Arkansas.

Photo via Life Site News.

READ MORE