Abortion Amendment Could Prevent Arkansas From Requiring Parental Consent for Abortion

Abortion,

This article is part of an ongoing series tracking the Arkansas Abortion Amendment of 2024 and examining its effects on state law.

The group Arkansans for Limited Government is collecting petition signatures to place the Arkansas Abortion Amendment on the November ballot.

If passed, the amendment would write abortion into the Arkansas Constitution, and it could legalize as many as 3,000 or more elective abortions in the state every year. The measure contains sweeping health exceptions for abortion throughout all nine months of pregnancy, and it nullifies all state abortion laws that conflict with the amendment.

From 1989 to 2015 the Arkansas Legislature passed a series of laws requiring abortionists to notify the parents and obtain parental-consent before performing an abortion on an underage girl. Laws like these help protect children from exploitation.

By writing abortion into the constitution, the Arkansas Abortion Amendment of 2024 could jeopardize commonsense abortion restrictions like Arkansas’ parental notification and parental consent laws — meaning it could be possible for an abortionist to perform an abortion on a teenage girl without even telling the girl’s parents.

Is that really something the People of Arkansas want to do?

That’s simply one example of how the Arkansas Abortion Amendment of 2024 could cause lawmakers and voters to lose the ability to enact abortion restrictions — including basic restrictions that people on both sides of the aisle have supported in the past.

You can download a copy of the amendment here.

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

READ MORE

Atheist Organization Celebrates Amendment That Would Write Abortion Into Arkansas’ Constitution

Abortion, ,

On Friday the nation’s most prominent atheist organization issued a statement celebrating the proposed Arkansas Abortion Amendment of 2024.

The group Arkansans for Limited Government is backing the amendment. If passed, the measure would write abortion into the Arkansas Constitution and legalize as many as 3,000 or more elective abortions every year in the state.

Arkansans for Limited Government must collect more than 90,000 petition signatures from registered voters before the amendment can officially appear on the November ballot.

In a post on X (formerly Twitter), the Freedom From Religion Foundation — an atheist group headquartered in Wisconsin — celebrated the abortion amendment, writing,

Great news! Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin certified ballot language Tuesday for a proposed constitutional amendment that would overturn the state ban on abortion, joining a growing list of states with pro-abortion referenda in November.

This is not the first time the Freedom From Religion Foundation has weighed in on ballot measures in Arkansas.

In 2022 the group celebrated the defeat of Arkansas’ religious freedom amendment at the ballot box.

More recently, the Freedom From Religion Foundation sent a complaint to the Crawford County Sheriff’s Office over inmate baptisms at the county’s correctional facility and provided an atheist display on the Arkansas Capitol Grounds last Christmas.

You can download a copy of the abortion amendment here.

READ MORE