Tag: Abortion Amendment

Catholic Bishop Issues Strong Statement Against Arkansas Abortion Amendment As Opposition Grows

Opposition to a proposed abortion amendment is growing in Arkansas.

Arkansans for Limited Government is collecting petition signatures to place the Arkansas Abortion Amendment on the November ballot.

The amendment would write abortion into the state constitution, and it would prevent the Arkansas Legislature from restricting abortion during the first five months of pregnancy — allowing thousands of elective abortions on healthy women and healthy unborn children every year.

It also could pave the way for taxpayer-funded abortions through all nine months of pregnancy — something voters have opposed in the past.

But a growing list of organizations in Arkansas oppose the abortion amendment.

Arkansas Right to Life and Family Council Action Committee both have launched campaigns to disqualify and defeat the abortion measure.

Choose Life Arkansas — which is made up of pro-life leaders from across the state — has also formed a campaign to defeat the amendment.

NWA Coalition for Life filed a Statement of Organization last month announcing it is working against the abortion amendment. The group includes pro-life leaders from the Northwest Arkansas area.

On March 1 the Arkansas Committee For Ethics Policy filed paperwork with the State indicating it opposes the abortion amendment.

On Wednesday the Catholic Diocese of Little Rock also filed a Statement of Organization announcing it opposes the amendment.

In a statement of the diocese’s website, Bishop Anthony Taylor wrote,

A petition is currently being circulated in Arkansas to place an amendment on our November 2024 voting ballots that would change our state constitution to allow abortions until 18 weeks after conception. As bishop of the Diocese of Little Rock, I urge all Catholics and all people of good will not to sign this petition.

As the abortion amendment’s ballot title notes, 18 weeks after conception is the equivalent of 20 weeks gestation or the first five months of pregnancy.

The diocese also has posters and bulletin announcements available on its website. One of the announcements reads,

Catholics have duties and responsibilities as citizens, and we are called to actively participate in political life to further the common good. This means bringing our faith into the public square. . . . The intrinsically evil act of abortion must always be vigorously opposed. For this reason, Bishop Taylor is urging all Catholics not to sign the petition to put the Arkansas Abortion Amendment on our voting ballots. Please Decline to Sign.

You can download a copy of the amendment here.

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

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Amendment Would Open Arkansas to Dangerous, Unrestricted Abortion Drugs

This article is part of an ongoing series tracking the Arkansas Abortion Amendment of 2024 and examining its possible effects on state law.

A constitutional amendment vying for the 2024 ballot in Arkansas would jeopardize a number of state health and safety restrictions on dangerous abortion drugs.

Arkansans for Limited Government is collecting more than 90,000 petition signatures to place the Arkansas Abortion Amendment on the November ballot.

If passed, the amendment would write abortion into the state constitution — allowing thousands of elective abortions in Arkansas every year — and it would prevent the Arkansas Legislature from restricting abortion during the first five months of pregnancy.

Writing abortion into the state constitution could pave the way for taxpayer-funded abortions in Arkansas — something voters have opposed in the past.

The amendment also contains sweeping health exceptions for abortion throughout all nine months of pregnancy — even when a viable child could be delivered instead of aborted — and it nullifies all state laws that conflict with the amendment. That jeopardizes basic restrictions like parental consent and informed consent requirements for abortion as well as medical licensing standards for abortionists.

Preventing the Arkansas Legislature from prohibiting or restricting abortion during the first five months of pregnancy likely would nullify Arkansas’ health and safety laws for abortion drugs like the RU-486 regimen.

Chemical abortion drugs carry a number of risks and consequences. That’s part of the reason why state law contains health and safety restrictions for them.

For example:

• Act 139 and Act 1014 of 2015 by Sen. Missy Irvin (R – Mountain View) and Rep. Julie Mayberry (R – Hensley) prevent abortionists from prescribing abortion-inducing drugs like RU-486 remotely via telemedicine.
• Act 560 of 2021 by Rep. Robin Lundstrum (R – Springdale) and Sen. Scott Flippo (R – Mountain Home) contains an informed-consent process for chemical abortions. This helps ensure women get all the facts about chemical abortion — including its risks, its consequences, and its alternatives.
• Act 562 of 2021 by Rep. Sonia Barker (R – Smackover) and Sen. Blake Johnson (R – Corning) updates Arkansas’ restrictions on abortion-inducing drugs like RU-486. Among other things, the law outlines requirements that abortionists must follow in administering abortion-inducing drugs. It also prohibits abortion drugs from being delivered by mail in Arkansas.

Abortion-inducing drugs are dangerous. Official reports from the Arkansas Department of Health reveal that between 2020 and 2022 at least 1 in 50 women who took abortion drugs in Arkansas experienced complications.

Despite the serious health risk, some pro-abortion groups encourage women to order abortion pills online and have the abortion drugs shipped to them without talking to a doctor. That’s why state laws like Act 562 prohibit abortion drugs from being delivered by mail in Arkansas.

The Arkansas Abortion Amendment threatens to nullify all of these common sense health and safety laws that restrict abortion drugs.

Without these laws, Arkansas could see an inflow of dangerous, unrestricted abortion drugs throughout the state.

You can download a copy of the amendment here.

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

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Volunteers to Urge Voters to “Decline to Sign” Abortion Petition

The following is a press release from Family Council Action Committee.

Little Rock, Ark. — On Wednesday, Family Council Action Committee announced it is organizing volunteers across the state to urge voters not to sign petitions for the Arkansas Abortion Amendment. The effort is part of the pro-life group’s “Decline to Sign” campaign.

Family Council Action Committee Executive Director Jerry Cox released a statement, saying, “This abortion amendment would write abortion into our state constitution, and it would jeopardize Arkansas’ laws against taxpayer-funded abortion. Most people probably do not realize that this amendment sets Arkansas up for taxpayer-funded abortions up to birth. This is a deeply flawed measure that has no business being on the ballot, and we are urging Arkansans to politely decline to sign the petition for the abortion amendment.”

Cox said his group is organizing volunteers to speak with voters about the amendment as they head to the polls for the March primaries. “Voters have a right to understand what this amendment would do, and polling places provide a great opportunity to interact with registered voters. That’s why we have prepared thousands of flyers and placards explaining the abortion amendment and encouraging people not to sign the petition to place it on the ballot. We are sharing this material right now online at FamilyCouncilActionCommittee.com and across the state, and we are working with volunteers to distribute these materials outside polling places and elsewhere in their communities.”

Cox believes that voters will choose not to sign the petition once they understand how far the abortion amendment would go. “This amendment is more extreme than Roe v. Wade, because it writes abortion into our state constitution. It legalizes abortion for the entire nine months of pregnancy, and revokes common sense abortion laws like informed-consent and parental consent requirements. It opens the door to abortions paid for with taxpayer dollars. It fails to require basic medical licensing or health and safety standards that protect women from dangerous abortion procedures, and it’s a law our elected representatives won’t ever be allowed to fix or change. Once voters understand that, we are confident they won’t go along with this radical abortion amendment.”

Supporters of the amendment must gather 90,704 petition signatures from registered voters by July 5 in order to be eligible for the ballot. Family Council Action Committee’s “Decline to Sign” campaign will encourage Arkansas voters not to sign the petition this spring and summer.

Family Council Action Committee is a conservative 501(c)(4) organization based in Little Rock, Arkansas.

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