Abortion – Family Council

Arkansas Legislature Votes for $2M in Grants to Pregnancy Centers, Supporting Maternal Wellness

Apr 26, 2024Jerry CoxAbortionAbortion, Arkansas Legislature, Life, Pro-life, Sanctity of Human Life

On Thursday the Arkansas House of Representatives passed S.B. 64 by Sen. John Payton (R – Wilburn) providing $2 million in state grant funding for pregnancy help organizations. The bill previously passed the Arkansas Senate.

The funding will provide grants to pregnancy resource centers, maternity homes, adoption agencies, and other organizations that promote infant and maternal health and provide material support to women with unplanned pregnancies.

In 2022 Family Council worked with the legislature and the governor to secure $1 million for pregnancy centers. This funding provided grants to more than 20 pregnancy help organizations.

Last year we worked with lawmakers to renew this funding. This grant money has gone to more than two dozen good organizations across the state that give women and families real assistance when faced with an unplanned pregnancy.

S.B. 64 would make improvements to the grant program. It would increase state funding from $1 million per year to $2 million. This would put Arkansas’ funding on parr with other states.

The bill also clarifies that “pregnancy help organizations” include nonprofit organizations that promote infant and maternal wellness and reduce infant and maternal mortality by:

Providing nutritional information and/or nutritional counseling;
Providing prenatal vitamins;
Providing a list of prenatal medical care options;
Providing social, emotional, and/or material support; or
Providing referrals for WIC and community-based nutritional services, including but not limited to food banks, food pantries, and food distribution centers.

The measure includes language preventing state funds from going to abortionists and their affiliates.

The Arkansas Legislature passed S.B. 64 with virtually no opposition. We appreciate the the legislators who have supported this good legislation. Below is a breakdown of how each state representative voted on the measure.

The Following Representatives Voted FOR S.B. 64

Achor
F. Allen
Andrews
Barker
Beaty Jr.
Beck
Bentley
M. Berry
S. Berry
Breaux
Brooks
K. Brown
M. Brown
Burkes
Joey Carr
John Carr
Cavenaugh
Clowney
A. Collins
C. Cooper
Cozart
Crawford
Dalby
Duffield
Eaves
Ennett
Evans
D. Ferguson
K. Ferguson
C. Fite
L. Fite
Fortner
Furman
Gazaway
Gonzales
Gramlich
Haak
Hawk
D. Hodges
G. Hodges
Holcomb
Hollowell
Hudson
Jean
L. Johnson
Ladyman
Lundstrum
Lynch
Maddox
Magie
J. Mayberry
McAlindon
McClure
M. McElroy
McGrew
B. McKenzie
McNair
S. Meeks
Miller
Milligan
J. Moore
Nicks
Painter
Pearce
Perry
Pilkington
Puryear
Ray
J. Richardson
Richmond
Rose
Rye
Schulz
Scott
R. Scott Richardson
T. Shephard
Steimel
Tosh
Underwood
Unger
Vaught
Walker
Wardlaw
Warren
Watson
D. Whitaker
Wing
Womack
Wooldridge
Wooten

The Following Representatives Voted AGAINST S.B. 64

D. Garner
McCullough

The Following Representatives Voted “Present” on S.B. 64

Long
McCollum

The Following Representatives Did Not Vote

Duke
Eubanks
V. Flowers
K. Moore
Springer
Speaker Shepherd

U.S. Supreme Court Hears Arguments Over Forcing Emergency Rooms to Perform Abortions

Apr 26, 2024Jerry CoxAbortionAbortion, Life, Pro-life, Sanctity of Human Life

On Wednesday the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments over whether or not emergency rooms in America should be forced to perform abortions under the federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA).

EMTALA is a decades old law signed by President Ronald Reagan. It is designed to ensure people are able to receive emergency care even if they are unable to pay.

After the U.S. Supreme Court released its 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health decision overturning Roe v. Wade, President Biden issued an executive order urging the Secretary of Health and Human Services to identify ways to use federal authority to expand abortion.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services issued a letter and guidance instructing doctors and hospitals that EMTALA requires them to perform abortions as a “stabilizing treatment” or transfer the woman to another facility for an abortion if they determine that doing so is necessary to protect the life or health of the mother — even if the abortion would be illegal under state law.

Health exceptions in abortion laws are notoriously vague and can actually permit abortion on demand in many cases. That’s why states like Arkansas limit abortion to situations where the mother’s life is at risk instead of using a broader “health” exception.

However, the Biden Administration’s letter to doctors and hospitals last year specifically says, “And when a state law prohibits abortion and does not include an exception for the life and health of the pregnant person — or draws the exception more narrowly than EMTALA’s emergency medical condition definition — that state law is preempted [overridden by the federal government].”

In Moyle v. United States of America, the Biden Administration is attempting to use this new interpretation of EMTALA to force E.R. doctors in other states to perform abortions that might be illegal under state pro-life laws.

The Biden Administration simply has no business trying to overrule state pro-life laws or turn emergency rooms into abortion facilities. If the Biden Administration wins in this case, it could try to push the same abortion agenda in other states—including Arkansas.

That’s why Family Council joined more than 30 other pro-life organizations in a friend-of-the-court brief filed in the case last February.

The brief we joined argues the federal government is trying to “resolve a political issue of profound national significance” through regulations rather than through law, and that the Biden Administration does not have the legal authority to make emergency rooms perform abortions under EMTALA.

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

Arkansas Senate Votes to Appropriate $2M to Address Maternal and Infant Mortality, Support Women With Unplanned Pregnancies

Apr 25, 2024Jerry Cox1 CommentAbortionAbortion, Arkansas Legislature, Life, Pro-life, Sanctity of Human Life

On Wednesday the Arkansas Senate passed S.B. 64 by Sen. John Payton (R – Wilburn).

The measure passed overwhelmingly without a single senator voting against it.

S.B. 64 is a good bill that provides $2 million in state funding for pregnancy help organizations — including pregnancy resource centers, maternity homes, adoption agencies, and other organizations — that promote infant and maternal health and provide women with pro-life alternatives to abortion.

The bill clarifies that pregnancy help organizations can promote infant and maternal wellness and reduce infant and maternal mortality by:

Providing nutritional information and/or nutritional counseling;
Providing prenatal vitamins;
Providing a list of prenatal medical care options;
Providing social, emotional, and/or material support; or
Providing referrals for WIC and community-based nutritional services, including but not limited to food banks, food pantries, and food distribution centers.

The measure includes language preventing state funds from going to abortionists and their affiliates.

S.B. 64 now goes to the entire Arkansas House of Representatives for consideration.

Family Council appreciates the Arkansas Senate passing this good measure. S.B. 64 will make a tremendous difference in Arkansas.

Below is a breakdown of how each senator voted on S.B. 64.