Texas Passes Pro-Life “Heartbeat Bill” Similar to Arkansas’

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This week Texas passed a good, pro-life law prohibiting abortion if the unborn baby’s heartbeat is detected.

It’s similar to a law Arkansas passed a little over eight years ago.

In 2013 the Arkansas Legislature passed S.B. 134 by Sen. Jason Rapert generally prohibiting abortion after the twelfth week of pregnancy if a fetal heartbeat can be detected.

Pro-abortion groups filed a lawsuit to block the state from enforcing this good, pro-life measure.

In the end, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals struck most of the law, and the U.S. Supreme Court declined to take up the case.

However, the courts left the law’s informed-consent requirements in place, and some parts of the Eighth Circuit’s ruling actually gave Arkansas a framework for passing additional pro-life legislation in 2015 and 2017.

If Texas’ law is challenged, it’s possible their courts will rule differently and we could all get a pro-life victory out of the case.

All of this underscores that slowly, but surely, we are winning the fight against abortion.

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Arkansas’ Congressional Delegation Files Brief Supporting State’s Down Syndrome Abortion Ban

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U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton (R – Arkansas) is one of the primary authors of the amicus brief.

Recently we wrote about how 22 states filed an amicus brief with the U.S. Supreme Court in support of Arkansas’ law generally prohibiting abortions performed because the baby may have Down Syndrome.

Earlier this month U.S. Sens. Tom Cotton and John Boozman and U.S. Reps. Rick Crawford, Bruce Westerman, Steve Womack, and French Hill filed an amicus brief in support of the law as well.

In 2019 the Arkansas Legislature passed Act 619 prohibiting abortion of an unborn baby solely because the child may have Down Syndrome.

At the time, Family Council estimated that Act 619 could save upwards of 100 unborn children in Arkansas every single year.

The ACLU and the state’s only surgical abortion facility promptly sued the State of Arkansas to have the law struck down. U.S. District Judge Kristine Baker and the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals subsequently blocked Arkansas from enforcing the law.

In April Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge filed a petition with the U.S. Supreme Court asking the nation’s highest court to take up the case.

Now Arkansas’ congressional delegation and their colleagues in Washington are asking the supreme court to uphold this good, pro-life law as well.

Among other things, the brief argues that Arkansas’s law intends to combat discrimination against unborn children with disabilities. It says that an abortion performed because a baby might have Down Syndrome amounts to eugenics, and it argues that Congress has a longstanding interest in protecting Americans with disabilities.

“Having Down syndrome—or any other disability—’doesn’t make anyone less human,'” the brief says. “Arkansas recognizes that and so should this Court.”

This could be a pivotal case, because it has the potential to reshape how federal judges treat state abortion laws like Act 619 of 2019.

It could give the U.S. Supreme Court an opportunity to overturn past rulings like Roe v. Wade or Planned Parenthood v. Casey.

That would be a huge victory for pro-lifers everywhere in America.

You can download the brief here.

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Biden Administration May End Safety Regulations on RU-486

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Last week the Biden Administration quietly signaled that it may end some of the safety restrictions on the RU-486 chemical abortion drug.

The announcement came via a court filing from the ACLU.

In the filing, the Biden Administration’s Food and Drug Administration indicated it is reviewing whether or not current restrictions on RU-486 are still necessary.

In a press release, the ACLU called the safety restrictions “outdated” and and said the administration needed “to take immediate action to expand access to medication abortion.”

Already this year, the Biden Administration has waived certain safety protocols for RU-486 in light of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

The truth is RU-486 is a dangerous drug that kills unborn children and carries significant health risks for women.

Fortunately, the Arkansas Legislature has passed several good, pro-life laws this year — such as Act 562 by Rep. Sonia Barker (R – Smackover) and Sen. Blake Johnson (R – Corning).

Act 562 updates Arkansas’ restrictions on abortion-inducing drugs like RU-486.

Among other things, it outlines requirements that abortionists must follow in administering abortion-inducing drugs, and it prohibits abortion drugs from being delivered by mail in Arkansas.

This will help maintain strong restrictions on RU-486 in Arkansas — even if the Biden Administration eliminates some of the federal safety regulations for chemical abortion.

All of this underscores why it is so important to pass good, pro-life legislation at the state level to protect unborn children from abortion, no matter what the federal government does.

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