What Happens In Arkansas After Roe?

With the recent leak of a draft opinion from the U.S. Supreme Court, many people now expect the court to overturn the 1973 Roe v. Wade abortion decision.

What happens in Arkansas after Roe v. Wade is reversed?

Below are a few points to consider.

The End of Roe Is Not The End of The Pro-Life Movement

Before 1973, states were able to set their own abortion laws. Roe v. Wade struck down those laws nationwide.

Overturning Roe doesn’t mean that abortion automatically will be illegal in America. It means voters, state lawmakers, and congress will once again be able to enact their own abortion laws.

Places like California would be able to keep abortion legal while other states would be free to restrict or prohibit it.

In states like Arkansas, groups who profit financially from abortion may work to make abortion legal.

Overturning Roe v. Wade would be a huge victory, but there may still be work to do.

Abortion in Arkansas Generally Will Be Prohibited Unless The Mother’s Life Is At Risk

In 2019 the Arkansas Legislature overwhelmingly passed Act 180, and Governor Hutchinson signed it into law.

Act 180 prohibits abortion in Arkansas if the U.S. Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade.

It contains exceptions for abortions performed to save the life of the mother.

The Arkansas Attorney General’s Office has indicated that the State of Arkansas would enforce Act 180 if the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.

Pro-Lifers Will Need to Step Up to Help Mothers With Unplanned Pregnancies

Even though abortion in Arkansas is near a 45-year low, approximately 3,000 unborn babies are aborted every year.

If Roe v. Wade is overturned and abortion is generally prohibited in Arkansas, pro-lifers will need to step up to help women with unplanned pregnancies.

Arkansas is home to more than 40 pregnancy resource centers.

These organizations provide everything from diapers and baby formula to pregnancy testing, ultrasounds, and information about adoption — often free of charge.

Many states — including Arkansas — have appropriated public funds for organizations like these.

Most abortions in Arkansas are performed on single mothers. Churches, charities, and pro-life organizations will need to help these families.

We Will Need to Educate and Equip Arkansans

Public opinion polling from the University of Arkansas shows 79% of likely voters in Arkansas believe abortion should be either completely illegal or restricted to certain circumstances.

Reversing Roe v. Wade means voters and elected officials will decide what kinds of pro-life policies their states will enact.

After Roe, it will be as important as ever that voters know where their elected officials stand on abortion and the sanctity of human life.

Arkansas Attorney General Calls on DOJ to Address Pro-Abortion Domestic Terrorism

Above: The aftermath of a firebombing at CompassCare pregnancy resource center in Buffalo, NY. The pro-abortion domestic terror group Jane’s Revenge later took credit for the attack. Jane’s Revenge has called for an “open season” on pro-life organizations.

On Tuesday Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge joined 18 other state attorneys general in a letter calling for U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland to stop the escalating pro-abortion violence against pro-life organizations and churches.

U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton and all four of Arkansas’ congressmen recently issued similar calls for action as well. Earlier this month the U.S. Department of Homeland Security released a National Terrorism Advisory System Bulletin warning of possible violence in response to the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in the Dobbs case.

The letter authored by the Attorney General of Ohio reads,

Dear Attorney General Garland:

I am writing about the recent spate of terroristic threats and acts directed at pro-life organizations around the country.

Many millions of Americans oppose abortion. Some join organizations that advocate for legal change aimed at ending abortion. Others form crisis-pregnancy centers—pro-life groups that provide resources and community to women who become unexpectedly pregnant. Either way, these Americans hope to persuade their fellow citizens to oppose a practice that terminates a life, and to support women and expectant mothers. That is their First Amendment right.

“Since the leak of the draft opinion” overruling Roe v. Wade, “charities that support pregnant mothers in need have been firebombed, and pro-life organizations have been attacked almost daily and terrorized.” One report, from June 13, documented attacks involving arson, vandalism, or both against at least 13 pro-life centers across the country. Another report documents more than 20 attacks on “pregnancy resource centers and offices of pro-life groups.” And violent organizations are now publicly inciting terroristic acts. One such group—Jane’s Revenge—has claimed credit for attacks in Colorado, Massachusetts, Oregon, Texas, Washington, and Wisconsin. The same group has declared “open season” on “any anti-choice group” that continues to operate. And it has called on its members “to paint, to burn, to cut, [and] to jam” pro-life centers and advocates. “Through attacking,” it says, its members “find joy, courage, and strip the veneer of impenetrability held by these violent institutions.”

The Department of Justice must investigate and prosecute these terroristic threats and acts. It should start with Jane’s Revenge—the FBI has more than enough resources to determine the organization’s members and to track down those carrying out these acts of violence, which qualify as terrorism under federal law. And while Jane’s Revenge offers an obvious starting point, the supply of entities deserving to be investigated hardly stops there.

Inaction is intolerable in our nation of laws, and it violates your oath of office. Yet, in recent weeks, you have continued to allow illegal actions seemingly because they advance (in the minds of some) the pro-abortion cause. In particular, you have done nothing to break up picketing outside the homes of Supreme Court justices rumored to have voted to overrule Roe v. Wade—this despite the fact that a federal law plainly prohibits such conduct. And over the past year, the federal government has repeatedly sought leniency for violent criminals motivated by what this Administration perceives as progress. All the while, it has taken bizarrely aggressive positions toward its ideological opponents—for example, parents who speak out at school-board meetings. Intentional or not, budding domestic terrorists have apparently received the message: the Department of Justice is going easy on those who use violence in furtherance of favored viewpoints.

This Administration well knows the potential for a “significant increase in violent threats” in the wake of a decision overruling Roe. The American people are trusting you to keep them safe. In this country, the federal government’s duty to protect against violence does not turn on the victim’s identity; access to justice cannot turn on partisan affiliation. In America, we solve our differences with debates and ballots, not with bricks and Molotov cocktails. I urge you to thoroughly investigate these acts and to ensure that all those who threatened or carried out violence are brought to justice.

I conclude by offering assistance. My office, and the offices of my peer state attorneys general, stand ready to aid in these investigations and prosecutions. Political violence—no matter the cause, and no matter the perpetrator—must be punished, and harshly.

Below are a few examples of the recent violence against pro-life organizations in America:

  • May 7 – St. John XXIII Catholic Church in Ft. Collins, Colorado has its windows smashed and is vandalized with the message, “My Body My Choice,” plus an anarchist symbol
  • May 8 – Wisconsin Family Action in Madison, Wisconsin is firebombed and vandalized with the threat, “if abortions aren’t safe, then you aren’t either.”
  • May 8 – The Loreto House Pregnancy & Parenting Resource Center in Denton, Texas is vandalized with the messages “Forced birth is murder” and “Not a clinic.”
  • May 13 – The Alpha Pregnancy Center in Reisterstown, Maryland is vandalized with the messages “Jane’s Revenge” and “If abortions aren’t safe neither are you.”
  • May 14 – BirthRight pregnancy center in Frederick, Maryland is vandalized with the messages “Defend Roe” and “F-k Fake Clinic.”
  • May 21 – Four churches in Olympia, Washington are vandalized with messages, including “If abortions aren’t safe then neither are you,” “Abort the church,” and “God loves abortion.”
  • May 27 – Next Step Pregnancy Services has its windows smashed and is vandalized with the threat “If abortion isn’t safe, you aren’t either.”
  • May 30 – The Respect Life Office in Hollywood, Florida is vandalized with the messages “Jane’s Revenge,” “If abortions aren’t safe then niether [sic] are you,” and anarchist symbols.”
  • May 30 – The Dove Medical Pregnancy Center in Eugene, Oregon is vandalized with the messages “From Jane,” “Not a clinic,” “Abortion is healthcare,” and communist and anarchist symbols
  • June 2 – Agape Pregnancy Center in Des Moines, Iowa has its windows smashed and is vandalized with the messages “God loves abortions” and “fake clinic.”
  • June 3 – The Capitol Hill Pregnancy Center in Washington, D.C. is vandalized with eggs, red paint, and a message stating “Jane’s Revenge”
  • June 7 – Mountain Area Pregnancy Services in Asheville, North Carolina has its windows smashed and is vandalized with the messages “No forced birth” and “If abortions aren’t safe, neither are you!”
  • June 7 – CompassCare pregnancy center in Buffalo, New York is firebombed and vandalized with the message “Jane was here.”
  • June 8 – Options360 pregnancy center in Vancouver, Washington is vandalized with red paint and the message “Jane’s Revenge.”
  • June 11 – The Gresham Pregnancy Resource Center in Gresham, Oregon is firebombed.

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

U.S. Sen. Cotton Demands DOJ Investigate Jane’s Revenge As A Domestic Terror Organization

Above: The aftermath of a firebombing at CompassCare pregnancy resource center in Buffalo, NY. The pro-abortion domestic terror group Jane’s Revenge later took credit for the attack. Jane’s Revenge has called for an “open season” on pro-life organizations.

Last week a group of more than 100 congressmen — including all four congressmen from Arkansas — urged the U.S. Department of Justice to take action against the pro-abortion terror group Jane’s Revenge.

On Thursday, U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton (R – AR) wrote a letter to U.S. Attorney General Garland urging the DOJ to investigate Jane’s Revenge as a domestic terror group and prosecute those who have committed acts of violence against pro-life organizations.

Violence against pro-lifers has escalated since the leak of a draft opinion indicating that the U.S. Supreme Court plans to overturn Roe v. Wade.

In many cases, credit for the attacks has gone to the terror group Jane’s Revenge.

Sen. Cotton’s letter addressed to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland says,

Houses of worship and pro-life pregnancy centers are under attack. The Family Research Council has compiled a list of more than 50 attacks against churches, pro-life pregnancy centers, and other pro-life groups in the past few weeks.] A left-wing extremist group called “Jane’s Revenge” has taken credit for many of these attacks, including firebombings and grotesque acts of vandalism. The same group has now issued a letter declaring “open season” on all so-called “anti-choice” groups, and calls for terrorist attacks against these groups by anyone “with the urge to paint, to burn, to cut, [or] to jam.” I am appending a list of attacks this group has already claimed at the end of this letter.

What is the Department of Justice doing to protect Americans from these violent attacks? At a minimum, you should bring federal charges against the perpetrators, where appropriate, and investigate “Jane’s Revenge” as a domestic terrorist organization.

If you are unwilling to protect Americans from these attacks, you should resign — although, in
my opinion, you should resign in any case.

Above: Janes’ Revenge has been credited with multiple acts of vandalism and arson directed at pro-life organizations like the Alpha Pregnancy Center in Reisterstown, Maryland.

Sen. Cotton’s letter goes on to list attacks against churches and pro-life organizations claimed by Jane’s Revenge, including:

  • May 7 – St. John XXIII Catholic Church in Ft. Collins, Colorado has its windows smashed and is vandalized with the message, “My Body My Choice,” plus an anarchist symbol
  • May 8 – Wisconsin Family Action in Madison, Wisconsin is firebombed and vandalized with the threat, “if abortions aren’t safe, then you aren’t either.”
  • May 8 – The Loreto House Pregnancy & Parenting Resource Center in Denton, Texas is vandalized with the messages “Forced birth is murder” and “Not a clinic.”
  • May 13 – The Alpha Pregnancy Center in Reisterstown, Maryland is vandalized with the messages “Jane’s Revenge” and “If abortions aren’t safe neither are you.”
  • May 14 – BirthRight pregnancy center in Frederick, Maryland is vandalized with the messages “Defend Roe” and “F-k Fake Clinic.”
  • May 21 – Four churches in Olympia, Washington are vandalized with messages, including “If abortions aren’t safe then neither are you,” “Abort the church,” and “God loves abortion.”
  • May 27 – Next Step Pregnancy Services has its windows smashed and is vandalized with the threat “If abortion isn’t safe, you aren’t either.”
  • May 30 – The Respect Life Office in Hollywood, Florida is vandalized with the messages “Jane’s Revenge,” “If abortions aren’t safe then niether [sic] are you,” and anarchist symbols.”
  • May 30 – The Dove Medical Pregnancy Center in Eugene, Oregon is vandalized with the messages “From Jane,” “Not a clinic,” “Abortion is healthcare,” and communist and anarchist symbols
  • June 2 – Agape Pregnancy Center in Des Moines, Iowa has its windows smashed and is vandalized with the messages “God loves abortions” and “fake clinic.”
  • June 3 – The Capitol Hill Pregnancy Center in Washington, D.C. is vandalized with eggs, red paint, and a message stating “Jane’s Revenge”
  • June 7 – Mountain Area Pregnancy Services in Asheville, North Carolina has its windows smashed and is vandalized with the messages “No forced birth” and “If abortions aren’t safe, neither are you!”
  • June 7 – CompassCare pregnancy center in Buffalo, New York is firebombed and vandalized with the message “Jane was here.”
  • June 8 – Options360 pregnancy center in Vancouver, Washington is vandalized with red paint and the message “Jane’s Revenge.”
  • June 11 – The Gresham Pregnancy Resource Center in Gresham, Oregon is firebombed.

You Can Read Sen. Cotton’s Entire Letter Here.

Arsonists firebombed the Wisconsin Family Action office in Madison on Mother’s Day. The pro-abortion domestic terror group Jane’s Revenge later took credit for the attack. Jane’s Revenge has called for an “open season” on pro-life organizations.

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