Abortion – Page 71 – Family Council

Senate Committee Passes Bill Keeping Pro-Abortion Groups Out of Public Schools

Mar 29, 2023Jerry CoxAbortionAbortion, Arkansas Legislature, Life, Pro-life, Sanctity of Human Life

*Above: Planned Parenthood no longer performs abortions at its facility in Little Rock, but Planned Parenthood does provide abortion referrals.*

On Wednesday the Senate Education Committee passed a good bill that would help keep pro-abortion groups out of Arkansas’ public schools.

S.B. 466 by Sen. Jim Dotson (R – Bentonville) and Rep. Sonia Barker (R – Smackover) says that a public school or open-enrollment public charter school shall not knowingly enter into any type of transaction with an individual or entity that offers or provides abortion referrals.

Arkansas law already prevents schools from contracting with organizations that perform abortions.

Now that Arkansas generally prohibits abortion except to save the life of the mother, state law needs to clarify that public schools won’t contract with pro-abortion groups like Planned Parenthood that refer women to abortion facilities out of state.

S.B. 466 is a good bill that will help keep public schools from working with pro-abortion organizations in Arkansas.

The bill now goes to the entire Arkansas Senate for consideration.

Committee Passes Good Bill Concerning Pro-Life Cities, Counties in Arkansas

Mar 29, 2023Jerry CoxLegislationAbortion, Arkansas Legislature, Life, Pro-life, Sanctity of Human Life

On Tuesday the Senate City, County, and Local Affairs Committee passed a bill to help expand Pro-Life political subdivisions in Arkansas.

S.B. 446 by Sen. Joshua Bryant (R – Rogers) and Rep. Kendon Underwood (R – Cave Springs) builds on Arkansas’ law that lets cities and counties pass Pro-Life resolutions.

Act 392 of 2021 affirms that cities and counties can designate themselves as Pro-Life. To date, nearly half of all Arkansans live in a Pro-Life City or Pro-Life County.

S.B. 446 expands this 2021 law so that any political subdivision of the state can declare itself to be Pro-Life — not just a city or a county.

Now that the U.S. Supreme Court has reversed Roe v. Wade and abortion is generally prohibited in Arkansas, citizens and their elected officials need to establish exactly where they stand when it comes to protecting innocent human life.

S.B. 446 is a good bill that will help communities do exactly that. The bill now goes to the Arkansas Senate for consideration.

Senate Public Health Committee Advances Good Bills

Mar 28, 2023Jerry CoxAbortionAbortion, Arkansas Legislature, Life, Pro-life, Sanctity of Human Life

On Monday the Senate Public Health Committee advanced two good bills.

The first was S.B. 452 by Sen. Ben Gilmore (R – Crossett) and Rep. Mindy McAlindon (R – Centerton).

The bill amends the legislative declarations in the Arkansas Family Planning Act of 1973. It deletes legislative findings in state law that claim, “Continuing population growth either causes or aggravates many social, economic, and environmental problems, both in this state and in the nation,” and that “[c]ontraceptive procedures, supplies, and information as to and procedures for voluntary sterilization are not sufficiently available as a practical matter to many persons in this state.”

The second was S.B. 463 — also by Sen. Ben Gilmore (R – Crossett) and Rep. Mindy McAlindon (R – Centerton) — clarifying that the State Medical Board will revoke the license of a physician that violates Arkansas’ laws against abortion-inducing drugs.

Both bills now go to the Arkansas Senate for consideration.