Tag: Pro-life

Arkansas Named Most Pro-Life State in America for Fourth Year in a Row

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, December 20, 2023

Little Rock, Ark. — On Wednesday Americans United for Life announced Arkansas is the most pro-life state in America for the fourth year in a row. The pro-life organization ranks all fifty states based on state laws protecting the unborn, the elderly, the disabled, and the terminally ill.

Family Council President Jerry Cox released a statement, saying, “Today Americans United for Life recognized the many pro-life laws and policies our state has enacted over the years. Arkansans should be proud of their state legislators for passing the best laws in the nation when it comes to protecting unborn children, the elderly, the disabled, and the terminally ill. That’s something to celebrate.”

Cox pointed out that most Arkansans are pro-life and do not support abortion on demand. “Long before Roe v. Wade was overturned, Arkansas’ abortion rate had plummeted to historic lows. Public opinion polling has shown for years that Arkansans do not support abortion on demand, and more than forty pregnancy resource centers around the state help women and girls with unexpected pregnancies. Arkansas is the nation’s most pro-life state, because Arkansans themselves are deeply pro-life.”

Cox noted that making Arkansas a pro-life state has taken a lot of work by many different people. “Arkansas Right to Life has been defending human life for over forty-five years, and Family Council has been at it for nearly thirty-five. Arkansas’ General Assembly has passed close to fifty good, pro-life measures since 2011. Ministers, churches, elected officials, pregnancy resource centers, and everyday Arkansans all have worked tirelessly to make Arkansas the pro-life state that it is today. Being pro-life is about much more than opposing abortion. Now that Roe v. Wade has been overturned and abortion in Arkansas is prohibited except to save the life of the mother, the pro-life movement in Arkansas has entered a new phase. We are shifting our focus to helping women and families with unexpected pregnancies, and we are making sure our laws respect and protect innocent human life at every stage from conception until natural death. We look forward to continuing that pro-life mission in 2024.”

###

READ MORE

Why Arkansas Shouldn’t Prosecute Women for Having Abortions:

As pro-abortion groups prepare for a possible run at the ballot in 2024, many people once again may be wondering what penalties are appropriate for violating Arkansas’ pro-life laws.

Last year National Right to Life and Arkansas Right to Life joined more than 70 state, national, and international pro-life organizations in issuing an open letter to America’s lawmakers urging them not to prosecute women who have illegal abortions.

As states prohibit abortion, lawmakers are facing questions about whether or not to prosecute a woman who breaks the law by having an abortion.

Current law in Arkansas exempts a woman from prosecution or other legal action when her unborn baby is killed. This prevents a woman from being prosecuted or sued for the death of her unborn child — even if the child’s death is caused by an abortion.

This year lawmakers in Arkansas briefly considered legislation that would have allowed prosecution of a woman who had an abortion.

Here are four reasons why Arkansas law should not punish a woman who has an abortion.

Some women are coerced into having an abortion.

Over the decades, we have heard countless women say that they were pressured into having an abortion against their will.

In some cases it was a parent who told them they had to have an abortion. In other cases it was an abusive boyfriend.

Researchers have found that human traffickers may force their victims to have abortions if they become pregnant.

It isn’t right to prosecute a woman who may have been forced to have an abortion against her will.

Women were not prosecuted for having illegal abortions before Roe.

Before 1973, abortion generally was illegal in Arkansas.

The Arkansas Legislature enacted the state’s first laws against abortion around 1875.

As far as our team can tell, from 1875 to 1973 Arkansas never prosecuted women for having illegal abortions.

The abortionist could be prosecuted for breaking the law, but not the woman. The same was true in many other states that prohibited abortion prior to Roe v. Wade.

Even though Arkansans recognized that abortion was wrong, they also recognized that there were serious problems with prosecuting a woman who has an abortion.

How will our state prosecute illegal abortionists if the women face prosecution too?

Now that abortion is prohibited in Arkansas, our authorities need to be able to prosecute abortionists who violate the law.

In order to do that, they may need testimony from women who have gone to those abortionists for illegal abortion procedures.

Will women come forward to testify against abortionists in court if they know that they can be prosecuted too?

Prosecuting women as well as abortionists may make it harder to hold abortionists accountable for breaking the law.

We don’t have to prosecute women to abolish abortion.

We can prohibit abortion, shut down abortion facilities, and prosecute abortionists without putting women in jail, too.

Abortion facilities that violate state laws should be shuttered, and abortionists who break the law should be penalized.

If we do that, we can stop abortion in Arkansas. We don’t have to prosecute women who have had abortions in order to end abortion

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

READ MORE