AR Pro-Life Law Could Stop Clinics From Doing Chemical Abortions

Abortion, , ,

Last Thursday attorneys for Planned Parenthood filed an appeal with the U.S. Supreme Court saying their clinics will have to stop doing chemical abortions if a pro-life law from 2015 is upheld.

In 2015 the Arkansas Legislature passed a law requiring abortion clinics performing chemical abortions to contract with a physician who has admitting privileges at a hospital to handle complications from the abortion.

In 2016, U.S. District Judge Kristine Baker blocked that law from being enforced. However, last July, a three-judge panel at the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals overturned Judge Baker’s decision. Now Planned Parenthood is appealing to the U.S. Supreme Court to strike the law down.

Last week Planned Parenthood wrote that if the law is enforced, it will have to stop doing chemical abortions in Arkansas, because Planned Parenthood has been unable to find a doctor with hospital admitting privileges with whom to contract.

When the Abortion-Inducing Drugs Safety Act was filed in 2015, a lot of people said it wouldn’t do anything. Before it’s over, this simple law may have a larger impact on abortion and pro-life laws in America than any other bill we have worked on in recent history. Here’s how:

  1. Hospital Admitting Privileges. Last year the U.S. Supreme Court struck a Texas law requiring abortion doctors to have admitting privileges at a local hospital. Many took that to mean admitting privileges requirements were unconstitutional. The Abortion-Inducing Drugs Safety Act requires abortion clinics to contract with a physician who has hospital admitting privileges. However, the Eighth Circuit implied Arkansas’ law is different from Texas’ and might be constitutional.
  2. The “Large Fraction” Test. The Eighth Circuit panel essentially said judges can’t just strike down any law that makes it harder to get an abortion. The law must affect a large percentage of women seeking an abortion. That applies to every state in the Eighth Circuit. This could make it easier for pro-life laws in Arkansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota to withstand future legal challenges.
  3. Future Pro-Life Laws. The Eighth Circuit’s ruling revealed other pro-life laws we might pursue. For example, the judges suggested a state could require abortion clinics to maintain a twenty-four hour emergency telephone line. This will help guide our pro-life legislation in the future.

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Family Council Signs Letter Opposing Abortion Coverage in Obamacare Funding

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This week Family Council joined more than 60 pro-life leaders from across the country in urging the U.S. Senate not to authorize any Obamacare funding that covers abortion.

Recent proposals by Senators Alexander (R – TN) and Murray (D – WA) would give federal tax dollars to insurance plans that cover elective abortions. The proposals ignore longstanding traditions in Congress, like the Hyde Amendment, that prevent taxpayer-funding of elective abortions in most cases.

As we wrote last year, the Hyde Amendment has long been viewed as a delicate compromise. However, that compromise has recently come under attack. In 2016 the Democratic National Committee put language in its party platform saying, “We will continue to oppose — and seek to overturn — federal and state laws and policies that impede a woman’s access to abortion, including by repealing the Hyde Amendment.”

Prohibiting the public funding of abortion saves lives. According to the Charlotte Lozier Institute, more than 2 million lives have been saved by the Hyde Amendment since in was first enacted in 1976.

Simply put, our senators should not authorize any federal spending that subsidizes abortion.

You can read the entire letter to Congress here.

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Health Department Inspects NWA Planned Parenthood Clinic

Abortion, , ,

Last spring the Arkansas Legislature passed Act 383. This good, pro-life law makes it clear abortion clinics must be inspected at least annually and that the Department of Health will shut down an abortion clinic that fails inspection. It also closes a loophole in Arkansas’ informed-consent law regarding abortion.

Despite the fact that Act 383 is a reasonable law, the ACLU has filed a lawsuit attempting to strike it down as unconstitutional. That lawsuit currently is pending in federal court.

Last November the Department of Health inspected a Planned Parenthood clinic in Northwest Arkansas. The department recently sent a letter to the clinic, saying,

On November 15, 2017, the Arkansas Department of Health conducted an inspection of your facility. The findings from this inspection revealed the use of cloth booties which are incapable of being disinfected, to cover the stirrups on the ultrasound exam room table.

It is our understanding this has been corrected. . . . [Y]ou have thirty (30) days from the mailing of this notice to respond with the confirmation or ask for a hearing. If you fail to do so, the license will be suspended. The suspension shall remain in effect until all violations have been corrected . . . .

Infection control is a major concern in hospitals, clinics, and doctors’ offices nationwide. In this case, the inspectors from the Department of Health did their jobs by citing the abortion clinic for using products that could not be disinfected properly.

You can read the Arkansas Department of Health’s entire letter here.

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