Pro-Abortion Group Believed to Be Targeting These 23 Counties

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Last week, announcements were posted on pro-life social media pages indicating that canvassers for the Arkansas Abortion Amendment may intend to target 23 specific counties with what some have referred to as “super signing weekends” in the final stages of their petition drive.

Arkansans for Limited Government has until July 5 to collect 90,704 valid petition signatures to place the Arkansas Abortion Amendment on the ballot. To date, much of the group’s canvassing efforts have been focused on central and northwest Arkansas.

The group is believed to be focusing on these 23 counties during the final weeks of its petition drive:

  • Arkansas
  • Ashley
  • Calhoun
  • Chicot
  • Cleveland
  • Columbia
  • Dallas
  • Drew
  • Hempstead
  • Howard
  • Jackson
  • Lafayette
  • Lee
  • Lincoln
  • Little River
  • Logan
  • Monroe
  • Nevada
  • Ouachita
  • Phillips
  • Scott
  • Sevier
  • Woodruff

If passed, the Arkansas Abortion Amendment would write abortion into the state constitution, allowing thousands of elective abortions in Arkansas every year.

The amendment does not contain any medical licensing or health and safety standards for abortion.

The measure prevents the Arkansas Legislature from restricting abortion during the first five months of pregnancy, and it automatically nullifies all state laws that conflict with the amendment. That jeopardizes even the most basic health and safety restrictions on abortion.

The amendment’s health exceptions would permit abortion through all nine months of pregnancy in many cases.

It 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.

To date, multiple organizations have come out against the amendment, 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.

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Arkansas Lawmakers File Resolution Opposing Abortion Amendment

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On Monday Arkansas legislators filed a resolution opposing the Arkansas Abortion Amendment vying for the ballot.

Lawmakers convened in Little Rock on Monday for a special legislative session.

Arkansans for Limited Government has until July 5 to collect 90,704 valid signatures from registered voters to place the Arkansas Abortion Amendment on the November ballot.

H.R. 1003, filed by Rep. Ryan Rose (R — Van Buren) and more than 40 other state representatives opposes the abortion amendment, says:

WHEREAS, prior to the United States Supreme Court’s 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, Arkansas had enacted laws protecting women and unborn children from abortion; and

WHEREAS, from January 22, 1973, to June 24, 2022, the United States Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade prevented Arkansas from protecting women and unborn children from abortion; and

WHEREAS, on June 24, 2022, the United States Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in its Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision; and

WHEREAS, that same day the State of Arkansas certified that Act 180 of 2019, the Arkansas Human Life Protection Act, prohibiting abortion except to save the life of the mother in a medical emergency is in effect; and

WHEREAS, an effort is now underway to enact the Arkansas Abortion Amendment of 2024; and

WHEREAS, the ballot title of the Arkansas Abortion Amendment of 2024 states that the amendment prevents the State of Arkansas from prohibiting, penalizing, delaying, or restricting abortion during the first twenty (20) weeks since the first day of the pregnant female’s last menstrual period; and

WHEREAS, the Arkansas Abortion Amendment of 2024 would legalize abortion on demand during approximately the first five (5) months of pregnancy in Arkansas, thereby depriving unborn children of their fundamental right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; and

WHEREAS, the Arkansas Abortion Amendment of 2024 proposes various exceptions that would permit an abortion up until birth in many instances; and

WHEREAS, the Arkansas Abortion Amendment of 2024 nullifies all laws and amendments that conflict with it, thereby jeopardizing measures such as parental-consent laws that historically have enjoyed bipartisan support; and

WHEREAS, the Arkansas Abortion Amendment of 2024 also would jeopardize the constitutionality of public health and safety requirements the State of Arkansas might deem appropriate and necessary for abortion procedures and for those who perform abortions,

NOW THEREFORE,
BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE NINETY-FOURTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ARKANSAS:

THAT the House of Representatives oppose the Arkansas Abortion Amendment of 2024, and encourage all registered voters to vote against it.

If passed, the Arkansas Abortion Amendment would write abortion into the state constitution, allowing thousands of elective abortions in Arkansas every year.

The amendment does not contain any medical licensing or health and safety standards for abortion, and it automatically nullifies all state laws that conflict with the amendment. That jeopardizes even the most basic restrictions on abortion.

The measure contains sweeping health 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.

To date, multiple organizations have come out against the amendment, 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.

You can read H.R. 1003 here.

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U.S. Supreme Court Rejects Abortion Drug Lawsuit Based on Standing

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On Thursday the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a federal lawsuit over the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s elimination of safety measures on abortion drugs, saying the pro-life doctors who the filed suit lacked proper standing to do so.

The case — FDA v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine — centered on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s decision to approve the abortion drug mifepristone — also known as RU-486 — and to eliminate key safety protocols and standards for the drug.

When the FDA first approved RU-486 in 2000, a woman seeking a drug-induced abortion was required to visit the doctor three times.

By 2016 that number was reduced from three doctor visits to one doctor visit.

In 2021, the FDA removed the in-person visit with a doctor altogether — making it possible to obtain RU-486 through the mail without a medical examination or an ultrasound.

All of this puts women and unborn children at serious risk.

Over the years Arkansas’ state legislators have enacted various laws preventing abortion drugs from being delivered by mail in Arkansas and requiring abortionists to follow basic health and safety standards for abortion drugs.

Recently the Arkansas Attorney General’s office successfully sent cease-and-desist letters to abortionists from out of state who were advertising RU-486 to Arkansans.

Today’s decision does not affect Arkansas’ pro-life laws that protect women and unborn children from abortion, but it may mean the state will have to continue to work hard to prevent abortion drugs from being delivered into Arkansas illegally.

This U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling is a setback, but this is not the only pro-life case before the nation’s highest court right now.

We fully expect pro-life victories before the U.S. Supreme Court in the coming days.

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

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