What Does Arkansas’ Abortion Ban Actually Say?

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Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge (left) and Family Council President Jerry Cox hold the official certification that Roe is reversed and Act 180 of 2019 is in effect.

Following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to reverse Roe v. Wade, Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge certified that Act 180 of 2019 prohibiting abortion except to save the life of the mother is in effect.

Family Council worked in support of Act 180 with our friends in the Arkansas Legislature and with other pro-life organizations.

Below is a brief overview of the law:

  • Act 180 is a “trigger law” that was designed to take effect when Roe v. Wade was overturned.
  • Act 180 prohibits abortion in Arkansas except to save the mother’s life.
  • It says anyone who performs an illegal abortion can be fined up to $100,000 and imprisoned for up to 10 years.
  • It does not prosecute a woman who has an illegal abortion.
  • It doesn’t criminalize miscarriage.
  • The law permits procedures to remove an unborn baby who has died as a result of a miscarriage.
  • It doesn’t apply to ectopic pregnancies.
  • Act 180 doesn’t prohibit an OB/GYN from inducing labor or performing an emergency C-section.
  • It contains clear exceptions for contraception—including the “morning after” pill or Plan B.
  • Act 180 doesn’t prevent a pregnant woman from receiving medical treatments—such as chemotherapy—that carry risk for the unborn child.

Act 180 of 2019 had 47 legislative sponsors and co-sponsors.

Three-quarters of the Arkansas Legislature voted in favor of the measure, and Governor Hutchinson signed it on February 19, 2019.

Public opinion polling shows 79% of likely voters in Arkansas believe abortion should be either completely illegal or legal only under certain circumstances.

Act 180 reflects that. It generally prohibits abortion, but it makes exceptions for serious medical complications—like an ectopic pregnancy—and for circumstances when the mother’s life is in jeopardy.

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

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Abortion Facility Owner Found “Not Guilty” of Assault

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On Wednesday abortion facility owner Natalie Tvedten was found “not guilty” of First Degree Assault at a trial in Little Rock.

Warrant and arrest reports indicated that Tvedten faced two counts of Assault in the First Degree for allegedly trying to strike pro-lifers with her vehicle while they prayed on the public easement outside Little Rock Family Planning Services on July 13, 2021.

Little Rock Family Planning Services is Arkansas’ only licensed surgical abortion facility. The facility recently stopped performing abortions after the U.S. Supreme Court reversed Roe v. Wade on June 24.

Family Council has collected Little Rock Police reports documenting multiple close calls that pro-lifers have had with vehicles outside the surgical abortion facility over the years.

Below is video footage of the the July 13 incident that Family Council obtained last year via Arkansas’ Freedom of Information Act.

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

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Should Women Be Prosecuted for Having Illegal Abortions?

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On May 12, National Right to Life and Arkansas Right to Life joined more than 70 state, national, and international prolife organizations in issuing an open letter to America’s lawmakers urging them not to impose criminal penalties on women who have 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.

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

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.

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.

Some pro-lifers have speculated 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.

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 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.

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