More Pro-Life Legislation Filed in Arkansas

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Today Sen. Cecile Bledsoe (R – Rogers) and Rep. Rebecca Petty (R – Rogers) filed S.B. 168 improving Arkansas’ Safe Haven Act.

Arkansas passed the Safe Haven Act in 2001 to make it possible for women to leave newborn children in the care of law enforcement agencies or medical providers, such as hospitals.

In other states, newborn babies have been abandoned in parks and public restrooms in hopes that someone would find and take care of them. The Safe Haven Act lets a woman surrender her newborn to law enforcement or medical personnel instead — without the possibility of criminal prosecution or endangering her child. Over the years other states have passed similar laws.

The Safe Haven Act helps protect the lives and safety of newborn babies. It also offers another option besides abortion to women with unplanned pregnancies.

S.B. 168 makes this good law even better by letting fire departments that are staffed twenty-four hours a day accept newborn babies as well. This will expand the number of locations where women can safely surrender a newborn, and will make it less likely that a child might be abandoned.

The bill also gives fire departments, law enforcement agencies, and medical facilities the option of installing specially designed and approved safety devices commonly called “safe haven boxes.”

These devices let women surrender their newborns safely and anonymously to licensed medical or law enforcement personnel, and have been used successfully in Indiana and elsewhere.

This is a good bill that our friends at Arkansas Right to Life strongly support.

The bill has been referred to the Senate Public Health Committee. We will keep you posted on its progress.

You can read S.B. 168 here.

You can leave a message for your State Senator regarding S.B. 168 at 501-682-2902.

You can leave a message for your State Representative at 501-682-6211.

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A.G. Petitions to Move Abortion Case to Federal Court

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According to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge’s office petitioned to move an important case from state court to federal court after a Pulaski County judge temporarily blocked a pro-life law.

The case surrounds the Arkansas Woman’s Right to Know Act. This good law requires abortionists to give women all the facts about abortion — including abortion’s risks, consequences, and alternatives — and it requires abortionists to wait at least 48 hours before performing the abortion.

This gives women ample time to weigh their options and decide if they want to go through with the abortion.

Abortionists cannot charge women for the abortion or any services related to the abortion until the 48-hour reflection period is over.

In some states, abortion facilities have required women to pay ahead of time for an abortion or related services. This may cause women to feel financially obligated to have the abortion. Making the clinics wait 48 hours while the woman makes her decision is perfectly reasonable.

However, Planned Parenthood and Little Rock Family Planning Services apparently disagree.

Last year the facilities were cited for charging women ahead of time and collecting credit card information from patients prior to the end of the 48-hour reflection period.

The groups appealed to the State Board of Health. Last fall the board ruled the abortion facilities had violated state law.

After that decision, the groups appealed to Pulaski County Circuit Judge Tim Fox, who issued an order yesterday that blocked this good law from being enforced until the case is decided or a higher court intervenes.

The attorney general’s office petitioned a federal court yesterday to take up the case. A federal court could unblock the law — meaning the state would be able to enforce it. Given the fact a number of other states have similar laws on the books, the federal court system is also likely to uphold Arkansas’ law.

Hats off to the state’s attorneys for being so proactive with this case!

As I’ve said before, I don’t know of any attorney general in America who is doing more to defend the sanctity of life and protect women from abortion than Attorney General Leslie Rutledge.

Her office has won some major, pro-life victories in court over the past couple of years. This may be an opportunity for yet another win.

Photo Credit: By Brian Turner (Flickr: My Trusty Gavel) [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons.

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Bill Filed to Make Abortions Illegal

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Senator Jason Rapert (R – Conway) has filed a bill to make abortion illegal except in cases of medical emergency, such as when the mother’s life is at stake. 

If passed, the bill would not take effect immediately.  This is what is commonly called a “trigger law,” because it stipulates that the law will take effect if the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1973 Roe v. Wade abortion decision is reversed or changed by the courts.  Until federal law or the courts give states more leeway, it will lie dormant. 

This bill is in preparation for the day when states can once again make their own abortion laws. 

We are pleased to partner with Senator Rapert and our friends in the legislature to work for the passage of this good law.

Please call your state senator and your state representative and encourage them to vote for S.B. 149.

The number for the Arkansas Senate switchboard is 501-682-2902. 

The number for the Arkansas House switchboard is 501-682-6211.

You can reach an operator to leave a message only during business hours.  

Announce this in your church, and ask your friends to call as well.  We will keep you posted as other good pro-life legislation is filed. 

You can read S.B. 149 by clicking here.

You can reach Senator Rapert to thank him at Jason.Rapert@Senate.AR.gov or 501-336-0918.

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