Legal Group Warns Abortion Amendment Would Create “Constitutional Crisis in Arkansas,” Turn the State into an “Abortion Destination”
Legal experts specializing in abortion policy say the Arkansas Abortion Amendment could create a “constitutional crisis in Arkansas” and turn the state into an “abortion destination” in America.
The amendment touted by Arkansans for Limited Government would write abortion into the state constitution. The group hired more than 150 petition canvassers in support of the amendment, and submitted some 101,525 signatures to place the measure on the ballot on Friday.
On Monday, Family Council obtained a legal analysis of the abortion measure from Americans United for Life.
The analysis identified multiple problems with the amendment, including how the abortion amendment would:
- Give abortionists “free rein to operate without any health and safety restrictions.”
- Authorize abortion on demand during the first five months of pregnancy.
- Lead to the elimination of protections for women, minor girls, and unborn children.
- Turn Arkansas into an “abortion destination” in America.
Arkansas is currently the safest state in the nation for children in the womb. The Amendment would place Arkansas in the company of such nations as China, North Korea, and a handful of other nations who do not protect life at or prior to three months. . . .
The Amendment authorizes abortion-on-demand through five months of pregnancy (and through nine months in some cases), threatens to eliminate protections for women’s welfare and parental involvement laws, gives abortionists free rein to operate clinics without health and safety regulations, increases the number of coerced abortions in Arkansas, furthers the harmful and false narrative that abortion is necessary for women to have equality and success in America, and attempts to silence the voices of women harmed by abortion. The Amendment allows abortion activists to turn the life-affirming state of Arkansas into an abortion destination that endangers the health and safety of its residents both inside and outside the womb.
Americans United for Life is a nationwide legal organization whose mission is to “advance the human right to life in culture, law, and policy.”
Group Submits 101,525 Signatures to Place Abortion Amendment on the Ballot
On Friday the group backing an abortion amendment in Arkansas submitted 101,525 petition signatures to place their measure on the November ballot.
The Arkansas Secretary of State will count and verify the signatures to ensure at least 91,704 of them came from registered voters before certifying the measure for the ballot.
Arkansans for Limited Government is the organization backing the abortion amendment. According to public documents, the group spent tens of thousands of dollars paying more than 150 petition canvassers to collect signatures across the state. However, pro-life volunteers have been active in communities all over Arkansas as well.
If passed, the Arkansas Abortion Amendment would prevent the State of Arkansas from restricting abortion during the first five months of pregnancy — which is more extreme than Roe v. Wade, and would allow thousands of elective abortions on healthy women and unborn children every year.
The amendment does not contain any medical licensing or health and safety standards for abortion, and it does not require abortions to be performed by a physician or in a licensed medical facility.
It automatically nullifies all state laws that conflict with the amendment, jeopardizing basic abortion regulations — like parental-consent and informed-consent requirements that both sides of the aisle have supported in the past.
The measure contains sweeping exceptions that would permit abortion through all nine months of pregnancy in many cases.
The amendment also would pave the way for publicly funded abortion in Arkansas by changing Amendment 68 to the Arkansas Constitution that currently prohibits taxpayer funded abortion in the state.
Pro-lifers were present at the capitol on Friday when the abortion amendment campaign submitted its petitions.
Several groups are actively working against the abortion amendment as well, including:
- Arkansas Right to Life
- Family Council Action Committee
- Choose Life Arkansas
- NWA Coalition for Life
- The Arkansas Committee For Ethics Policy
- The Catholic Diocese of Little Rock
- Saline Decline to Sign
- Stronger Arkansas
- Stop Abortion On Demand
- Students for Life of America
You can download a copy of the Arkansas Abortion Amendment here.
Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.