Abortion in Arkansas Falls to Lowest Levels in More Than 40 Years

Abortion, , ,

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, June 3, 2019

Little Rock – On Friday the Arkansas Department of Health published its annual report on the number of abortions performed in Arkansas. The report shows abortion in Arkansas has fallen to levels not seen in more than 40 years, with 3,069 abortions performed in 2018.

Family Council President Jerry Cox released a statement saying, “The number of abortions in Arkansas is at a forty-two year low. Arkansas’ abortion rate is a fraction of what it was in the 1990s. And, Americans United for Life reports Arkansas is the second most pro-life state in the country. All of this proves Arkansas is winning the fight to protect unborn children.”

Cox said a series of pro-life laws passed in recent years are responsible for much of the decline in Arkansas. “In 2015 Arkansas passed the best informed-consent law for abortion in the nation. Since then our lawmakers have passed more than a dozen good laws that prohibit certain abortion procedures and protect women from unsafe abortion practices. Arkansans are true, pro-life leaders.”

Cox also praised Arkansas’ pregnancy resource centers. “Arkansas is home to a number of excellent pregnancy resource centers that help women with unplanned pregnancies. They provide everything from ultrasounds and adoption information to maternity clothes, diapers, and baby formula free of charge. Pregnancy resource centers give women real options besides abortion.”

Cox said Family Council will continue working to end abortion in Arkansas. “We’re glad the number of abortions is at historic lows, but it’s important to remember that the vast majority of the abortions performed last year were on healthy women carrying healthy babies. Abortion is a terrible tragedy. That’s why we are committed to working to end abortion in Arkansas.”

###

READ MORE

#TBT 1990: Pro-Abortion Group’s Little Known Constitutional Amendment

Abortion, , , ,
Photo Credit: Arkansas Citizen, Volume 2, July, 1990

Twenty-nine years ago the Committee for Reproductive Choices launched a petition drive to place a pro-abortion amendment on the ballot in Arkansas.

The amendment would have made abortion a constitutional right and, in the words of one attorney, “straight-jacket” Arkansas into the most extreme abortion policy in the nation, at the time.

The amendment’s supporters included the ACLU and Advocates for Reproductive Information and Support (ARIS).

The pro-abortion amendment’s text read,

AN AMENDMENT PREVENTING STATE INTERVENTION IN REPRODUCTIVE CHOICES

Section 1. The State shall not intervene in any woman’s personal reproductive decisions, including but not limited to, the right to choose to become pregnant, to carry a pregnancy to term and to bear a child or to prevent pregnancy or to terminate her pregnancy through abortion by a licensed medical doctor through the twentyfourth (24th) week of pregnancy. The state shall not intervene in a woman’s right to terminate her pregnancy to protect her life or health.

Section 2. Nothing in this provision shall restrict a person’s religious freedom.

The amendment effectively would have written the U.S. Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton abortion decisions into the Arkansas Constitution.

In Roe the court ruled states had little power to restrict abortion during the first and second trimesters.

In Doe the court ruled states could not prohibit abortions deemed necessary to save the life or protect the health of the mother.

Both of these rulings were changed in 1992, when the U.S. Supreme Court issued its Planned Parenthood v. Casey decision that dismantled Roe‘s trimester framework and ruled states could regulate abortion as a medical procedure.

Thankfully, this pro-abortion amendment from 1990 never took root in Arkansas.

However, it serves as a reminder of how far Arkansas has come in the fight to protect unborn children.

READ MORE