Bad Bill Would Weaken Arkansas’ Abortion Laws

A bad bill filed at the state legislature would weaken Arkansas’ abortion laws — possibly allowing hundreds or even thousands of abortions on healthy unborn children every year.

Right now abortion in Arkansas is generally prohibited except to save the life of the mother. This year Arkansas passed an excellent measure clarifying and closing loopholes in the state’s pro-life laws.

H.B. 1880 by Rep. Ashley Hudson (D — Little Rock) would expand abortion in Arkansas.

The bill would add sweeping health exceptions for abortion through all nine months of pregnancy. It also would permit abortion in cases of rape or incest or when a baby is at risk of certain fetal abnormalities.

Since 2019, there has been a lot of discussion about putting exceptions for rape and incest in Arkansas’ pro-life laws.

Rape and incest are evil. A woman who is raped is a victim in every sense of the word, and only about 2%–5% of all abortions are performed because of rape of incest.

In light of that, it’s easy for some people to justify abortion in these situations.

But there are serious problems with allowing abortion in cases of rape or incest.

Below are a few points to consider.

The Unborn Baby is Totally Innocent

An unborn boy or girl has no control over how he or she was conceived.

These are living human beings.

It is not right to kill an unborn baby because the baby’s father was a rapist.

Abortion Helps Conceal Crimes Like Rape, Incest, and Sex Trafficking

Sexual predators sometimes coerce their victims into having abortions to conceal rape or incest.

In 2016 abortionist Ulrich Klopfer admitted to the Indiana Medical Licensing Board that he once performed an abortion on a 10-year-old girl from Illinois who had been raped by her uncle. Dr. Klopfer did not report the crime to law enforcement.

He let the girl go home to her parents who knew about the rape and had decided not to prosecute. As far as we can tell, that girl’s uncle was never brought to justice.

In 2014 researchers Laura Lederer and Christopher Wetzel found 55% of sex-trafficking survivors surveyed reported at least one abortion, and 29.9% reported multiple abortions. Lederer and Wetzel concluded,

The prevalence of forced abortions is an especially disturbing trend in sex trafficking. . . . One victim noted that “in most of [my six abortions,] I was under serious pressure from my pimps to abort the babies.” Another survivor, whose abuse at the hands of her traffickers was particularly brutal, reported seventeen abortions and indicated that at least some of them were forced on her.

Abortion helps cover up evil crimes like these.

Rapists Have No Legal Claim to Their Victims or Their Victims’ Children

Under Arkansas law, a rapist has no legal claim to his victim or the children of his victim.

That means a woman or girl who becomes pregnant because of rape can keep the child or put the child up for adoption, but she does not have to consult the rapist or share custody with him.

Arkansas law is very clear on that point.

Additionally, state courts can take other appropriate action to protect victims of rape or incest and their children.

Abortion Does Not Heal the Harm That Rape and Incest Cause

Abortion doesn’t heal the wounds that rape or incest leave behind.

Abortion takes the life of an unborn baby, and it carries dangerous risks for the woman.

Abortion is not a quick fix. Its consequences are very serious.

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

Family Council Joins Amicus Brief in Support of NY Pregnancy Resource Centers

On Monday, Family Council joined an amicus brief in support of pregnancy resource centers in New York.

The brief is part of a lawsuit over the New York attorney general’s decision to censor pro-life pregnancy centers that tell women about abortion pill reversal.

Abortion drugs like the RU-486 regimen kill unborn children by blocking the hormone progesterone, but medical advancements have shown the effects of the pill may be reversed by administering progesterone to the woman.

In March, Catherine Herring testified before members of the Arkansas Legislature about how she took progesterone as part of abortion pill reversal after her husband secretly gave her abortion drugs. Many other women have talked about how abortion pill reversal saved their children as well.

But New York’s attorney general is threatening to punish pregnancy resource centers that promote or provide abortion pill reversal. The A.G.’s decision has prompted a federal lawsuit.

On Monday, Family Council joined 40 other pro-life organizations in an amicus brief filed with the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals.

The amicus brief argues New York’s attorney general is unconstitutionally prohibiting free speech and hurting the pregnancy resource centers who want to tell women about abortion pill reversal.

Pregnancy resource centers offer women real options besides abortion — and there is now good evidence that abortion pill reversal saves lives.

Family Council is pleased to join other pro-life groups in standing up for pregnancy resource centers in New York.

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

Arkansas Senate Passes Bill to Protect Women and Children from Abortion Drugs

On Wednesday the Arkansas Senate passed a good bill clarifying that abortion by fraud is a crime in Arkansas.

Right now abortion in Arkansas is generally prohibited except to save the life of the mother, and it is illegal to deliver abortion-inducing drugs into the state. Arkansas also has laws prohibiting fetal homicide.

However, Arkansas has no specific law addressing situations in which a person secretly gives abortion drugs like RU-486 to a pregnant woman.

H.B. 1551 by Rep. Jimmy Gazaway (R — Paragould) makes it a felony to try to kill an unborn child by secretly giving a pregnant woman abortion-inducing drugs without her knowledge or consent.

In 2022 abortion drugs were secretly placed in Catherine Herring’s water in order to cause the death of her unborn child.

Ms. Herring suffered serious health complications and had to be hospitalized as a result. Since then, states have begun proposing laws like H.B. 1551 to prevent this type of crime.

H.B. 1551 is a good bill that will help protect women and unborn children from dangerous abortion drugs. It passed the Arkansas House and Arkansas Senate without a single lawmaker voting against it. The bill now goes to the governor to be signed into law.

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