Tag: Life

Surgical Abortion Facility in Little Rock Officially Closes Tomorrow

According to a statement on its website, Arkansas’ only licensed surgical abortion facility — which, as far as Family Council can tell, has not performed any abortions since the U.S. Supreme Court reversed Roe v. Wade last June — will officially close effective Thursday, September 1.

Little Rock Family Planning Services has operated at different locations since 1973. It has utilized its current facility in west Little Rock since the late 1990s, and tens of thousands of unborn children have been aborted at the facility during that time.

Over the years, Family Council has reported on various incidents at the facility — including ambulance transports and close calls between pro-lifers and vehicles outside the location. In 2021 we wrote about a group of pro-life protesters charged with trespassing at the facility.

For many years pro-lifers have gathered regularly outside the facility to peacefully pray that abortion would end and that the surgical abortion facility would close. That finally is happening.

On Friday, June 24, 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court reversed Roe v. Wade. Within hours, Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge certified that, according to state law, abortion is prohibited in Arkansas except when the mother’s life is at risk — effectively ending abortion in Arkansas immediately.

Over the next few weeks, attorneys for Little Rock Family Planning Services and Planned Parenthood quietly dropped federal lawsuits against pro-life legislation that Arkansas had enacted. Now Little Rock Family Planning Services is closing, and Planned Parenthood has been forced to stop performing abortions at its facility.

The statement on Little Rock Family Planning Services’ website calls the closure “temporary,” but it’s difficult to imagine that any abortion facility will be able to operate in Arkansas thanks to the good, pro-life laws that legislators have enacted.

In the meantime, pro-life efforts in Arkansas have shifted from making abortion illegal to making it irrelevant and unthinkable.

As we said back in June, overturning Roe v. Wade is a huge victory — but there is still work to do.

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

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Arkansas Expanding Services for Pregnant Women

Now that the U.S. Supreme Court has overturned Roe v. Wade and abortion in Arkansas is prohibited in most circumstances, the state is expanding services for pregnant women and families.

Last week the State Senate announced that Arkansas has begun expanding services that should be available to thousands of women by the beginning of next year, pending approval from the federal government.

Earlier this month Governor Asa Hutchinson held a press conference where he outlined ongoing plans that would provide resources to women who otherwise might be at risk for abortion.

This latest announcement from the Arkansas Senate seems to be part of those ongoing plans.

Among other things, the Senate announcement noted that the state also has created a call line that will notify women about resources in their area, writing,

The state Health Department is implementing a service called the Pregnancy and Parenting Resource Call Line. People can call 1-855-ARK-MOMS to get information about the availability of resources in their area that benefit pregnant women.

That’s also 1-855-275-6667.

The call line will provide information about health care services, prenatal and post natal care, adoption and foster care, child care assistance, mental health care, how to apply for a job, how to get treatment for addictions, how to sign up for welfare and food stamps and how to get tested for sexually transmitted diseases.

The State of Arkansas also is in the process of awarding grants to pregnancy help organizations that assist pregnant women. The state is set to provide up to $1 million to these organizations in the coming months.

Now that abortion is illegal in Arkansas except to save the life of the mother, we need to work to make it unthinkable. One way we can do that is by providing options and resources to women who otherwise might be at risk for abortion. It’s good to see that the State of Arkansas is taking steps to do just that.

Family Council plans to continue supporting this important, pro-life work in the months to come.

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